


slept next to her but I dreamt of you all summer long

by hackingxbiochemist



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F, Highschool AU, Hosie Endgame, Jealous Hope Mikaelson, Songfic, a little bit of posie, hosie for the win
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:08:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 70,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27261754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hackingxbiochemist/pseuds/hackingxbiochemist
Summary: “Use this,” Hope offers Josie her pen and turns out that’s her only pen but she’s too late when she realized that because the girl beside her was looking at Hope like she did a heroic thing for her.“Really?” Josie asks, her eyes wide in disbelief because Hope Mikaelson is talking to her and offering to lend her pen to Josie.“Yeah, here,” Hope hands it to Josie’s palm and Josie blushed at the contact.“Oh my god, thank you, Hope! I’m not usually this forgetful, it’s just this morning I thought that I had taken out my pencil case from my locker, but I don’t think that I did it because as you know, it’s not here. So I just need to –“ the girl was rambling uncontrollably.“Hey, that’s okay, I get it. Busy morning and all?” Hope answered as she realized something, the new girl knows her name even though she has not introduced herself. “Wait… how did you know that my name is Hope?”ora Hosie highschool AU inspired by the song "Betty"- Taylor Swift
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 192
Kudos: 362
Collections: its hosie





	1. I won't make assumptions about why you switched your homeroom

**Author's Note:**

> hi guyss! I'm really bad at sumaries and this is my first Hosie fic (yeay!) it's been a long time since I write any fic so sorry for the mistakes and weird plot, but I hope you'll like it!  
> so this will be divided into several chapters and I hope that you can join me through the journey!  
> without further ado, please enjoy!

**_Betty, I won't make assumptions  
About why you switched your homeroom  
But I think it's 'cause of me  
Betty, one time I was riding on my skateboard  
When I passed your house  
It's like_ _I couldn't breathe_**

Hope can still remember the time Josie walks into her Biology AP class with her navy sweater and books clutched in her hands, smiling shyly in front of the class when the teacher introduced her and quietly sitting in her seat which is beside Hope because it’s the only available seat left. Hope was intrigued as in why Josie could enter the class since Josie was not in her grade, she’s a year below Hope, so Hope watched Josie as the brunette opened her notebook and then shuffled her backpack, looking for something. Hope realized that the girl might be looking for her pen since she was about to take notes when she started rummaging through her backpack. Hope smiled a little looking at how the girl beside her is frantically searching her backpack but still managed to look cute.

“Use this,” Hope offers Josie her pen and turns out that’s her only pen but she’s too late when she realized that because the girl beside her was looking at Hope like she did a heroic thing for her.

“Really?” Josie asks, her eyes wide in disbelief because Hope Mikaelson is talking to her and offering to lend her pen to Josie.

“Yeah, here,” Hope hands it to Josie’s palm and Josie blushed at the contact.

“Oh my god, thank you, Hope! I’m not usually this forgetful, it’s just this morning I thought that I had taken out my pencil case from my locker, but I don’t think that I did it because as you know, it’s not here. So I just need to –“ the girl was rambling uncontrollably.

“Hey, that’s okay, I get it. Busy morning and all?” Hope answered as she realized something, the new girl knows her name even though she has not introduced herself. “Wait… how did you know that my name is Hope?”

Josie dropped her head down to hide her blush, it could not get more embarrassing for her any more than this, Hope must think that she’s a stalker or some creep for knowing her name even though they never interact with each other previously.

“Uh, yeah, who doesn’t know you, you’re Hope Mikaelson, the captain of football team,” Josie rubbed the back of her neck shyly as she averted her gaze from Hope, “sorry if I freaked you out by blurting your name out.”

Hope smiled sweetly at Josie as she offered her hand to Josie, “I’m surprised that someone as cute as you knows my name,” Hope raises her eyebrows, “nice to meet you, Josie.”

Josie’s face was as red as a tomato when she took Hope’s hand and gave her a shy smile.

“So, Josie, do you want to tell me why you end up here?” Hope asked, “You’re a freshman right?”

“Yeah, they let me take the classes ahead, I guess. I don’t know why,” she shrugged her shoulders.

“Hmm.. interesting.” Hope smirked because she knew in order to take classes ahead, Josie has to finished the basic Biology class faster than all of her peers.

And that’s the start of their friendship, both of the girls got closer over time and they were paired up on a project and it just makes them both closer. Hope started sitting with Josie at lunch and Josie spent her study hall period with Hope at the library. Everybody is always staring at them and also talking about them, how Josie, a freshman, is hanging out with Hope, the captain of the football team and a junior. But Hope doesn’t care, she’s always bound not to care about what others said, they can think whatever they want. Hope really enjoyed the time she spent with Josie and she grows fond of her more and more. They texted and called each other a lot, sometimes it’s Josie asking for her help on History subject or Hope sending Josie the painting she’s working on for the upcoming Art Exhibition. As time goes by, they just talk about anything and Hope is taken aback at how easy talking with Josie is and how easy it is for them to get close. It’s like they have known each other for a long time.

One time, Josie sent her a ridiculous meme and Hope can’t help but chuckles at the text, grinning widely as she typed out her reply. Hope doesn’t realize that Freya was watching her reaction to the text intently.

“I see that my favorite niece has got someone special,” she smiled as she wiggled her eyebrows.

“Huh? What, Aunt Freya?” Hope asked her.

“There’s no need in denying it, Hope. I know that smile and how you light up when you were texting and it’s been going for a while.” Freya smiled.

Hope just blushed and she didn’t exactly realize that she was smiling a lot at Josie’s texts until her aunt noticed it.

“So… who’s the lucky boy?” Freya asked, “Or girl?” she added.

“Oh my god, Aunt Freya!” Hope swatted Freya’s hand, “It’s just a friend. She’s my biology partner and we just got to text each other recently.” Hope shaked her head at her aunt since she’s being so nosy.

“Aha! It’s a girl! Good for you, littlest wolf!” Freya exclaimed excitedly. “What’s her name?”

“Her name is Josie. And please, she’s my friend.” Hope chuckled at how her aunt was so excited about her love life.

“A friend? Are you sure it’s not a crush?” Freya smirked, “Well, who am I to judge? I was the one who kept thinking about Keelin as a ‘friend’ back then.” she laughed.

“Aunt Freya! Enough!” Hope nudged her aunt, “And you keep thinking about Keelin as a friend is normal, since you’re so old and you don’t know the concept of a crush!” Hope teased Freya.

“Hope Mikaelson!” Freya pretended to scold her and Hope sticked her tongue out.

After that conversation Hope kept thinking about what Aunt Freya said and she started questioning herself about her and Josie. Does she have a crush on Josie? Is that why she easily lets Josie in? A lot of questions entered her mind and Hope found herself holding her breath when she passed Josie’s house while riding her motorcycle, hoping that she could see the younger girl’s beautiful smile. And in that moment, she was sure that she has a crush on Josie.


	2. you can't believe a word she says, most times, but this time it was true

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE UPDATE!!!  
> Hey all! In honor of Danielle and Kaylee's birthday, I decided to surprise you guys with another chapter! Hope you like it :)  
> I will be updating this fic weekly and I hope that I can give you my best effort!  
> Finally, enjoy the update!

**_You heard the rumors from Inez  
You can't believe a word she says  
Most times, but this time it was true  
The worst thing that I ever did  
Was what I did to you_ **

It was a hot, summer day after gym class in the locker room where Hope heard the rumor.  
“Hey, I heard that Penelope Park is setting her eyes on a freshman, she says that she might be asking her out!” Dana Miller, a girl from Hope’s class said.

“ Which freshman? So weird for Penelope to mess around with a freshman.” Alyssa Chang responded.

“I think it’s the one who took the Bio AP class, who always follow Hope around like a lost puppy.” Dana replied as she untied her shoes.

“Huh? Interesting..” Alyssa said, “I thought they were dating. Wow, the nerd got some game, catching the eyes of both Penelope and Hope.”

Hope just slammed her locker and got out of the gym quickly, gossip is not her thing and hearing other girls talk about Josie that way just make her blood boils. Plus, Alyssa and Dana are the gossip queens at school; they should be only spreading rumors. That doesn’t mean that Josie is really going out with Penelope and that seems to calm Hope’s mind a bit.

They were working on the Biology project when Josie’s phone vibrated and she swiftly unlocked her phone, staring intently at her phone screen. Hope looked at Josie, raising her brow at the brunette who was now smiling at the phone screen.

“Hey, is that Penelope?” Hope asked Josie out of the blue. The younger girl blushed directly at the question.

“Uhm…” Josie just stared at the floor, her cheeks flushed.

“It isn’t?” Hope asked, not really sure if Josie was really texting Penelope, “It’s just I’ve heard some girls talking about Penelope asking you out,” Hope explained.

“Uh…well, it’s true,” Josie confessed with a small voice.

“What?! Really?” Hope said surprised, her eyes wide. She does not know why but it feels like there’s a knot forming in her stomach.

“I-I’m sorry,” Josie frowned, her voice so low, “I don’t think that you would react like this. I thought you knew.” Her eyes were now glassy, with tears threatening to fall.

“Hey, Jo, no, I’m just surprised that you agreed to go out with Penelope,” Hope felt her heart dropped looking at how Josie’s eyes were full of tears and how she looks scared.

“Oh, I-I thought that you were upset because I like girls.” Josie said as her face showed some signs of relief.

“Oh God, Jo, no! Of course not! I don’t care who you like, you’re amazing and I would never be upset with you. You’re amazing Jo! You’re so smart, pretty and kind. How can I be upset with you?” Hope grasped Josie’s hand because she felt very guilty that she caused Josie to feel insecure about her sexuality. “Jo, you know that my aunt has a wife right? I don’t care about all those things, love is love.”

A smile slowly crept into Josie’s face and she sighed with relief, “Well, I thought that you’re not going to be okay with it, it’s just I was taken aback with how you reacted.”

“I will never do that to you, Josie. You’re amazing, you know it right?” Hope smiled softly as she looks into Josie’s brown eyes. “I’ve just heard some girls talking about it in gym class and I thought they were just spreading rumors. Because if they are, I will surely kick their butts.”

Josie chuckled at Hope’s response and she smiled warmly at Hope, “Yeah, I don’t know why but Penelope asked me out, we were in music class together and she just asked me this morning.” Josie played with Hope’s hand in her palm, “I thought, why not give her a shot. She seems kind, isn’t she?”

“Huh..well, kinda..” Hope really can’t answer because she knew that Penelope can be a bitch and Hope, not caring about her classmates, didn’t really want to judge Penelope because she didn’t know Penelope that well.

Josie beamed at Hope and went back to researching things for their assignments on her laptop, smiling giddily as she typed away. Hope stared at Josie for a while, her heart felt warm when she saw Josie smile but she also felt uneasy about how what she heard in the locker room was true. Hope can’t describe it but she felt her heart dropped that Josie will be going out with Penelope, maybe Hope were just worried about how Penelope would treat her best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soo, how was it? kudos and comments are really appreciated! xo  
> it's a short chapter but stay tuned for next week's update, it will be a long one!


	3. i don't know anything but i know i miss you (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was Josie's 15th birthday when Hope realized her feelings for Josie but things might be complicated for both of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey all! this chapter is a long one and I decided to divide it into two parts. So it will be from the same part of the song. Hope you like it! oh and I slipped in something excited for any Deanoru shippers too in this chapter (tell me how you like the surprise, okay?) !!  
> Thank you for those who have previously commented and gave kudos. I love you guys! Your comments and kudos encouraged me to write more :) and please, enjoy the update!

**_But if I just showed up at your party  
Would you have me?  
Would you want me?  
Would you tell me to go fuck myself  
Or lead me to the garden?  
In the garden would you trust me  
If I told you it was just a summer thing?  
I'm only seventeen  
I don't know anything but I know I miss you_ **

It was Josie’s 15th birthday when Hope realized that she might have fallen for Josie. They have been friends for over a year and they got to know each other more and more. Josie was, of course, amazing, kind, beautiful, sweet and very thoughtful of Hope and Hope was really happy that she got a great best friend she could trust because she had some issues of opening up and trusting people. Josie always showed up on Hope’s games and in turn, Hope came to Josie’s recitals. They were inseparable but there’s just one thing that’s been nagging Hope for quite some times now. It’s Penelope. Hope can’t really know what Penelope’s going to do with Josie, they went on several dates and Josie always told Hope that Penelope was wonderful and sweet but there’s just something that Hope can’t quite put her finger on. She just reassured herself if Josie was happy then she should be happy. So, Hope let Josie invite Penelope if they hanged out and it was okay, Hope didn’t care as long as Josie was happy. Until one day, when they were hanging out and Josie was in the restroom, Penelope asked her, “Hey, does Josie say anything about me to you?”

“Huh?” Hope was startled at Penelope’s sudden question, “Yeah, maybe.”

“What did she say? Does she like me?” Penelope moved herself closer to Hope.

Hope squirmed at the contact, “She said you were kind and sweet, yeah, I don’t know about her liking you,” Hope said, unsure why she said that.

“Of course,” Penelope chuckled, “Josie always sees the best in everybody, that’s why I like her so much,” she said with a sigh. “And what about her liking me?” Penelope raised her eyebrow.

“Yeah, that’s Josie,” Hope smiled a bit, something in her seemed to snap when she heard that Penelope really like Josie but she still doesn’t understand why, “I mean, you could ask her yourself about her liking you.” Hope shrugged and played with her phone, not wanting to continue the conversation further.

“Can you ask her?” Penelope asked Hope with an expecting look.

“What’s your deal, Penelope?” Hope snapped, annoyed at Penelope for asking her those things, did Hope look like a freaking messenger? Hope shakes her head and continue, “I know about you and the girl you dated, I heard how you broke their hearts. So, tell me, why the hell should I trust you with Josie’s heart?!”

Penelope was shocked at Hope’s remark and she stay quiet, as she was about to open her mouth, Josie got back to their seat, smiling brightly, “Hey, what did I miss?”

“Nothing.” Both Hope and Penelope answered on the same time.

Josie looked at Hope and then Penelope, not noticing the tension between them previously, she raised her eyebrows at Hope but Hope stayed stoic. So, Josie decided to order.

After that, Penelope didn’t really talk to Hope anymore if they were hanging out together with Josie and Hope felt like a third wheel when they were together, not mentioning also the sudden urges to punch anything she sees whenever Josie laughed at something Penelope said or did. Hope thought that’s her protective side taking over since she still suspected that Penelope will break Josie’s heart. Penelope also kept dragging Josie with her until Hope barely Josie anymore and it really made her mood uncontrollable. So Hope focused on her football team and arts, distancing herself with Josie, knowing that maybe she didn’t mean so much anymore to Josie since they are growing apart. Hope avoided Josie, not wanting herself to lose control if Penelope got on her nerves like that time on the diner. One day, Josie showed up to her football practice, sitting on the bleacher until she was done with the practice. Josie immediately followed Hope to the locker room, not giving any chance for Hope to avoid her.

“Walk me home?” Josie asked with her pouty lips, “I’ve barely seen you anymore.” she frowned, tugging on Hope’s ponytail.

Hope laughed warmly at Josie and how can she refused Josie with that pout?

“Alright, I’ll change first, okay?” she smiled at Josie and Josie nodded happily with a grin plastered on her face.

After Hope was done changing, they start walking to Josie’s house.

“Where have you been these past weeks? It’s like you’re avoiding me,” Josie asked with a frown on her face. Darn it, that’s that pout again!

“I’m here,” Hope smiled as she gave Josie a side hug, “just busy, I guess.”

“Okay.”Josie nodded quietly. Then she stopped walking and Hope stopped too.

“Hope, you will tell me if there’s something wrong, right?” Josie took Hope’s hand, “If you have any problem or if I did something wrong, you’ll tell me?”

“Of course, Jo. Why wouldn’t I?” Hope chuckled, looking at Josie scrunched face.

“ I don’t know,” Josie shrugged her shoulders, “I was scared if I did something wrong. You were barely there anymore when I hung out with Penelope and we never hung out anymore. I miss you,” Josie pouted, “so much,” she said as she squeezed Hope’s hand.

“Hey, I’ll tell you what, your birthday weekend is coming up right?” Hope asked Josie.

“Urgh, don’t remind me about it,” Josie rolled her eyes, “I don’t want to hang out with you on the party with a lot of people that I don’t know.”

“Who said anything about the party?” Hope stucked her tongue out, “I was saying that we could maybe spend a day together on the weekend, before your birthday party, if you’d like?”

“Yes! Of course!” Josie exclaimed excitedly. “And you can sleepover at my house! So you don’t need to go home and just go straight to my party!”

Hope smiled at Josie’s excitement and she can’t help but feel something warm forming inside her heart at the voice of Josie’s laugh. “Okay, it’s settled then! I’ll spend the whole weekend with you, that will be enough to make up for the lost times right? That’s if you won’t get tired of spending two days with me!”

“I’ll never get tired of you, Hope,” Josie answered softly and Hope felt a blush crept on her cheeks.

So on Saturday, the day before Josie’s birthday, Hope planned activities for the both of them, she asked Caroline, Josie’s mom, for her permission to take Josie away for the whole day past her curfew and she agreed as long as Hope drive her motorcycle safely under the speed limit. Hope only nodded quietly and smiled embarrassedly because she remembered that Caroline saw her crashed once when she just started to learn riding her motorcycle.

The first destination they went to is an indie music concert of a band that Josie really loves, Witches Dispatch. And Hope got really hooked on the band since Josie introduced her to their songs. So it was an excited moment also for Hope to come and of course she got a small surprise planned for Josie. The band almost finished their set when the vocalist said, “I heard that somebody’s going to have her birthday tomorrow and as an early gift, please come on up!”. Josie gasped as she looked at Hope, smiling widely.

“Go on!” Hope nudged her forward.   
“Hope, no way!” Josie stepped back as she holds her hand out.

“Come on, Jo! You’re going to be great!” Hope pulled Josie a little and the vocalist held out her hand to Josie.

“There’s the birthday girl, come on!” the vocalist was reaching out to Josie as she smiled encouragingly.

Josie then reluctantly came up to the stage then got a microphone handed to her.

“So, tell me your name, birthday girl,” the vocalist asked Josie.

“Hi. My name’s Josie,” she smiled, blushing and trembling in front of her favorite singer.

“Okay, Josie, a little bird told me that you got quite the voice,” the vocalist raised her eyebrow at Josie and winked at Hope, “would you like to join me for the next song?”

“Oh god.” Josie gasped, starstrucked at the invitation given by the vocalist, ”Yes, yes. I would love to.”

The vocalist gave a signal and the band started to play their rendition of “ _Wouldn’t It Be Nice_ ”, one of Josie’s favorite songs. Josie at first shyly harmonized with the vocalist and by the end of the song, she was grinning widely from ear to ear. And Hope was just smiling widely, amazed by how Josie shined, how her eyes sparkled and her sweet voice singing out harmoniously, complementing the vocalist’s part. Hope’s breath was taken away when Josie sang her part and looked straight into Hope’s eyes and Hope realized that she was falling hard for her best friend.

After the band finished their set, Hope and Josie hang back for a while because Hope actually knew the guitarist of the band, or precisely, she was just introduced to the guitarist, Nico Minoru who is the vocalist’s girlfriend. Nico turned out to be her aunt’s friend from her old days. Josie was beaming and she was so excited to be able to talk to Karolina Dean, the vocalist of Witches Dispatch, who is one of her idols.

While they were waiting for Nico, Josie hugged her tightly, “This is the best early birthday present everrr! Thank you, Hope! I don’t think that I can beat you after this!” she laughed happily and kissed Hope cheek. Hope’s cheeks directly blushed after Josie’s kiss and Hope tried to hide her blush by taking a sip of her coffee before answering Josie.

“You’re welcome,” Hope answered, “you know I’d do anything for you, right?”

And now it’s Josie’s turn to blush and then Josie slapped Hope’s arm lightly, “Hey, you didn’t tell me you knew Karolina Dean! You knew how much I like her, right?” she pouted a little.

“No, I don’t really know her,” Hope replied, “I actually know the guitarist, well I just got introduced by my aunt, I don’t even know that she knew Nico if I wasn’t blaring their songs loudly in my room.”

“Oh my god. Aunt Freya knew Nico Minoru?!?! How come your aunt’s so cool Hope!” Josie was shocked at the information, she can’t believe that Aunt Freya knew not only one, but two of the members of her favorite band!

“Freya is a lot of things, but cool is not a word for her,” a voice appeared beside Hope and it was Nico Minoru, with her toned-down goth outfit and make up, chuckling warmly at Hope.

“Hey, Aunt Nico! The set was awesome! I really enjoyed all the songs!” Hope turned and gave Nico a hug.

“Hope! How many times do I have to tell you, just call me Nico!” she rolled her eyes playfully as she bumped her shoulders toward Hope, “Your Aunt Freya is much older than me and hanging with her does not make me as old as her.” Nico chuckled and then turned her attention toward Josie and hold her hand out, “Hello Josie, I believed we’ve met.” she smiled gleefully, contrasting to her goth appearance.

Josie took Nico’s hand and shaked it excitedly, “It was nice to meet you, Ms. Minoru! I’m a really big fan of your band!”

Nico laughed, “Please, call me Nico! Believe me, I’m not as ancient as Freya!” she shooked her head and took a sip of her coffee. “You got a beautiful voice, by the way.”

Hope chuckled at the remark and chimed in, “I’ve got to agree with both of your statement, Nico. Aunt Freya is really an old soul, the other day she freaked out when a Bluetooth speaker accidentally played some songs. And yes, Josie got a really amazing voice.”

Nico burst out laughing at Hope’s story, “Ah, I miss her! How’s your aunts? Are they doing well?” she asked Hope.

“Yeah, they send you and Ms. Dean their regards,” Hope smiled.

“Sending regards like it’s the 1800s,” Nico rolled her eyes and laughed, “your aunt knows the power of modern technology right?”

When Hope’s about to answer, a blonde enveloped Nico in a hug from behind and kissed Nico’s forehead, “Hey babe. And hey guys! Josie, it was really great having you up there!” she gave Josie thumbs up and a wide smile.

Josie was standing in awe, unable to reply the blonde, Hope had to nudged her first to answer Karolina, “Oh god, I’m sorry! Thank you, thank you so much Ms. Dean!” Josie shaked Karolina’s hand.

Karolina then pulled Josie for a hug, “No shaking, I’m a hugger,” she said as she released Josie and then she turned to Hope, “So, you must be Freya’s favorite niece.” And then she managed to hug hope too.

“Hello, Ms. Dean, nice to meet you,” Hope greeted Karolina politely after their hug.

“Aww, they are so polite and adorable,” she smiled and turned to Nico, smiling brightly as she intertwined her hand and Nico’s, “aren’t they, babe?”

“Yeah, they are. Unlike Freya, so rude and old” Nico stuck her tongue out.

“Hey, call me Karolina, okay? Ms. Dean is my mother and I think that I’m not that old yet,” she addressed Josie and Hope.

“Sorry, Karolina, it was nice meeting you and thank you so much that I can sing with you at the stage,” Josie thanked Karolina warmly.

“Of course! You’ve got a really great girl here!” Karolina said, winking at Hope, “Nico said this was very important to you and now I know the reason.” She smiled at Hope and then at Josie.

Hope was really embarrassed by the exchange and just nodded her head toward Karolina, “Thanks once again, Nico and Karolina for this! Aunt Freya’s going to owe you one! I owe you one, too!” Hope smiled sincerely toward the couple. “So, we should get going because we still have some places to go. Thanks again Karolina and Nico! You should visit us sometimes; I bet my aunts got a lot to catch up on with you.”

“It’s our pleasure, guys. Really, you two made such a cute couple.” Karolina smiled warmly at them both and Nico nudged her, “What babe?” Karolina asked confusedly.

Nico lowered her voice, “They are not a couple, babe. Just best friends.”

“Oh. My mistake,” Karolina scrunched her eyebrows at the new information she just got, “Sorry, I just thought that you two are dating.”

Hope and Josie were fully blushing and they were just flustered at Karolina’s remarks.

“Uh, yeah we’re best friends.” Hope just repeated what Nico said to Karolina.

“Yeah, best friends.” Josie added as she hide her face that is red as a beet.

“Whoa okay. We get it.” Nico held up both of her hands and tried to stifle a laugh looking at the two girls furiously blushing. “Karo, I think you have made enough people blushed for today. Let’s just let these two go, okay?”

“Babe!” Karolina swatted Nico’s hands on her side playfully, “Okay, if you says so! Oh, I need to take my guitar back to the truck. I’ll do it now. Wait for me, babe.” Karolina said as she pecked Nico’s lips and turned to Hope and Josie, “See you next time, Hope and Josie! It was really nice meeting you both!” she smiled at the two girls as she left.

“Okay, we need to go too. Come on, Jo.” Hope said as she handed Josie her denim jacket. Josie smiled at Hope warmly at the gesture and said good bye to Nico.

“Nico, I’m so glad to meet you and Karolina. Thank you for letting me sing with your band, this is the best day ever!” Josie said as she gave Nico a hug.

“You’re welcome, Josie. We’re glad to have you too.” she smiled.

“Catch you later, Aunt Nico!” Hope chuckled as she hugged Nico.

“Wow! You’re just as annoying as your aunt!” Nico shook her head at Hope and she whispered in Hope’s ear, “Hey Hope, just make the first move.” then she let go of Hope and her face was back to her stoic expression like she hasn’t say anything.

Hope was surprised by Nico’s remarks and she can only manage to wave her hands as she walked away to her motorcycle, swiftly catching up to Josie.

The ride was quiet, Josie and Hope stayed in a comfortable silence as the wind blew strongly as they are getting to a hilltop but Hope felt warm inside because Josie’s hands are circling her waist. Hope smiled contently as she looked straight to the foggy road ahead and she felt that Josie rested her head on her shoulder. Hope was so giddy by the contact and she can’t help but smile, thank god for her full visor helmet that covered her whole face, or else Josie can see how bad Hope’s blushing right now.

“Don’t you want to know where we’re going?” Hope asked Josie, breaking their silence.

“Nope, I trust you. Anywhere is okay as long as I’m with you.” Josie answered.

Hope’s heart was beating very fast and she felt that she could hear her heart thumping so loud despite the winds that are whooshing over her. She tilted her head a little toward Josie, “Oh, so if I were to bring you to an abandoned cabin in the middle of the woods right now, you’ll be okay with it?” she asked Josie playfully.

Josie laughed at her question, “Sure, why not just leave me with the wolves in the wood while you’re at it?” she countered Hope’s teasing.

Hope chuckled at Josie’s answer, “You’re so silly, Jo.”

“Hey! You started it!” Josie tightened her hands on Hope’s waist, attempting to tickle Hope but she failed because Hope’s jacket is so thick.

“Jo! Stop!” Hope was laughing at Josie’s failed attempt at tickling her, “I’d like to keep us safe and unscathed okay! I’d like to keep my promise to your mom!”

“What promise?” Josie questioned Hope confusedly.

“Erm.. yeah.. so remember last summer when I just got my motorcycle?”

“Yes?”

“Marcel was teaching me how to ride it and I started by going on some short route around my house. I was just starting to figure out how to control the brake and the throttle and I went too fast then I crashed some house fences and your mom saw it.” Hope told Josie embarrassedly.

Hope can feel the younger girl shaking with laughter behind her and she also laughed with Josie, her laugh is really infectious. Hope then took a turn off the main road and they arrived at a clearing where a beautiful lake stands behind it. Hope parked her motorcycle and took a duffel bag that was secured at the back of her motorcycle. She pulled out a picnic blanket and the food and drinks she prepared for Josie.

“Wow. Hope. It’s so beautiful.” Josie gasped in awe as she looked around the lake. “How did you find this place?”

Hope gazed at the lake, remembering the last time she was here with her parents. It was 2 years ago and she never go back again to this lake because it reminded her of her parents. But, being with Josie here, gave her a sense of peace, she felt that she can start to visit the lake again without her choking up.

“Yeah, it’s beautiful here. I used to come here with my parents before they—“

“Oh, Hope,” Josie engulfed her in a warm hug, her hand securely placed between Hope’s auburn locks, “thank you for sharing this place with me.”

Hope breathe in Josie’s sent and felt a relief washing over her, “No, thank you. You made me start seeing the good in things again, Jo. I was convinced that I deserved all the bad things happening to me, no matter what I did, it seems pointless for me. But you walked into bio class and I think that you started to change my perspective on things. I brought you here because I remembered you told me that you loved sitting beside a lake, so I wanted to show you this beautiful lake, my favorite place to visit with my parents.”

Josie touched Hope’s cheek gently and wiped a tear down Hope’s face and she took Hope’s hand, “Hope, you deserved all the good things in life. Your parents’ death is not your fault. I’m sure they don’t want to see you punishing yourselves over things that you can’t control, Hope. Your parents loved you, they wouldn’t want to see you like this.”

Hope was taken aback by Josie’s words and her feelings could not get any stronger than this for Josie right now. Josie has been her best friend, the first person she really opened up to after her parents’ death and she always seem to get Hope. Hope thought to herself that it was crazy that she has been avoiding Josie these past weeks, she was being selfish with protecting her own feelings.

And it’s like Josie’s reading her mind when Josie suddenly said softly, “Hey, Hope, can I ask you something?”

“Yeah?”

“Is there anything wrong? Did I do something wrong? You seem so distant lately.” Her voice quivered a bit. Hope felt guilty for making Josie feel bad and she doesn’t want Josie to know the real reason she was keeping her distance with Josie. If she said anything to Josie, she’ll ruin the friendship and Josie might not have any feelings for her! For all she knows, Josie seems to be really excited in going out with Penelope.

So Hope plastered a smile on her face, “No, of course no, Jo. Why would you think that? I’m just really busy with schoolwork and the team. You know that the coach really wanted us to win the state championship this season right? I will try to make more time to hang out with you, okay, if that’s what you want?”

“No, Hope. You don’t need to do that. I’m sorry, it’s just me being really weird, maybe I’m too sensitive over everything, I don’t know why but I just get this feeling that you’re avoiding me. It’s just been a very long time since we do anything together, only the two of us.” Josie sighed as her lips pouted into a frown.

“Hey, being sensitive is not a weakness. It’s right; we have not been spending as much time as we did usually. Don’t blame yourself, we all got our thing and the best thing to do now is try to enjoy this picnic, because you said it’s a long time since we did anything together?” Hope wiggled her eyebrows attempting to make Josie laugh as she pinched Josie’s cheeks.

Josie squealed when Hope pinched her cheeks pouted her lips more. Hope smiled at her best friend’s demeanor and she took out a bottle filled with cranberry juice, Josie’s favorite and opened the container where she brought out sandwiches, chips and fruits. She poured the juice into a plastic cup and brought the cup to Josie’s pouting lips.

“It seems that Pouty Josie is ready to drink her juice, open wide, the train is coming, choo-choo” Hope talked to Josie like she was pretending to feed a little kid.

Josie can’t help but chuckled at Hope’s attempt of feeding her, “Hope, they didn’t do the ‘train is coming’ trick when they are trying to get the kids to drink!”

“Ah, well, but it works on you!” Hope shrugged her shoulders as she fed a chip to Josie then handed her a sandwich. They both laughed together and ate the food brought by Hope.

“Hope, I’m really glad you brought me here. Thank you.” Josie looked at Hope with her warm brown eyes tenderly and as their eyes were locked into each other, Hope answered, “I’m glad that you’re here, Jo.” Hope quickly broke their eye contact because she can’t stop herself from wanting to kiss Josie. Josie then snuggled closer to her and Hope wrapped her arm around Josie’s side, keeping her gaze straight on the lake, not wanting to lose her self-control because of her stupid crush on Josie that seems to make things complicated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okayy, would you like the other part of the section as a next update or would you like me to make a surprise update? tell me what you think about the chapter! comments and kudos are really appreciated! i am really really excited whenever anyone of you commented on my works. So for those of you who like to leave comments, i love you guysss!


	4. i don't know anything but i know i miss you (part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls went home from from the lake and it's Josie's birthday!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello guysss! another surprise update! I am so so so sorry that I told you that I was gonna divide this part into two parts only but whoops, things got out of hand and I wrote another big chunk of Hosie for the second part and I think it'll be better if I divide it into three parts. So here's the second part, I'll update the third part soon!  
> thank you for those who commented on the last chapter, it really encouraged me to write more! :D  
> oh and btw I should've said this from the beginning, this work is unbeta'd, so I will be really grateful if you could tell me if I had some typos or inconsistency in the comment. all reviews and suggestions are welcomed!  
> and English is my second language and it's been almost a year since I write fics so I'm sorry for the grammatical errors and bad writing :) I hope you can bear with me!  
> Lastly, ENJOOYYYY!!!

They arrived at Josie’s house in the evening and they had dinner and quickly went to Josie’s room because they were exhausted after the day they had. Both of the girls fell into sleep quickly and deeply because of their exhaustion. In the middle of the night, Josie jolted awake with a soft shake on her body; Hope was shaking her shoulders gently.

“Wh-what’s going on, Hope?” she turned to look at Hope as she blinked her eyes several times, getting herself aware of what’s happening.

“Happy birthday, Jo.” Hope whispered softly as she smiled at Josie, holding a chocolate chip cookie with a single candle on it.  
“Nuh, go back sleep,” Josie mumbled sleepily, still curling up in her blanket.

Hope set the cookie aside on the nightstand and tugged Josie’s blanket, “Come, on birthday girl. Blow the candle, I got your favorite chocolate chip cookie.”

“Nooooo,” Josie buried her face on the pillow. And then she felt a weight on top of her body and realized that Hope was piling on top of her, Josie’s mind is instantly aware but she can’t move because of Hope.

“I’ll keep doing this until you wake up, sleepyhead.” Hope breathed behind Josie’s neck.

“Okayy, okaayy, but I can’t wake up with you on top of me, Hope,” Josie whined.

Hope shifted from her position, allowing Josie to get up, Josie’s eyes are still sleepy, her hair was a bit messy but to Hope she looks beautiful. Hope smiled fondly at her best friend, taking the cookie and light the candle again.

“Come on, blow the candle,” Hope told Josie, “make a wish.”

Josie closed her eyes and paused for a while and then blew the candle.

“Yeay!” Hope clapped softly, not wanting to wake up the whole house. Josie smiled at her sleepily, ‘Thank you, Hope.”

“You’re welcome, Jo.” Hope gave her a warm hug and after she let go of Josie she took out a box out of her bag.

“I got this for you,” she handed the box to Josie.

Josie took the box and opened it and her eyes went wide when she saw that inside the box was placed a beautiful necklace of the letter ‘J’, it was small, elegant and decorated with diamonds.

“Oh my god, Hope. This is so pretty.” Josie looked at the necklace in awe.

Hope’s heart was filled with warmth when she saw Josie’s reaction. “Put it on, Jo.”

Josie took out the necklace and handed it to Hope, “Would you mind?” Josie swept her hair to one side, exposing her neck so Hope can put on the necklace for her.

“Sure.” Hope’s breath hitched as she clasped the necklace to Josie’s neck, it was so quiet, she’s afraid that Josie can hear her heart beating so loud.

Josie then faced her and looked at the necklace one more time, “It’s beautiful, Hope. I love it.” She smiled brightly and gave Hope a hug again.

“Happy birthday once again to you, Josie.” Hope leaned in and gave Josie a kiss on her cheek, her lips lingered a while on Josie’s cheek and she pulled away. Hope felt her cheeks turned hot after what she did and she quickly shuffled out of Josie’s bed, “Uh, I need to go to the restroom.” She panicked and locked herself on the restroom, thinking about what she had just done.

“Hope, you okay?” she heard Josie knocked on the door quietly.

“Yeah, just a sec.” Hope pretended to flush and got out of the restroom.

Josie then took her hand and pulled her back to the bed, “Let’s go back to sleep. Lizzie got a lot of errands we need to do tomorrow for the party.”

Hope was still quiet because she was nervous of Josie’s reaction but then Josie did not say anything more. They both quietly settled into Josie’s bed, facing each other. When Hope was trying to ease back into sleep Josie whispered, “Hope?”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you for everything. You don’t know how much this means to me.”

“Anything for you, Jo.”

The next morning Hope woke up with Josie in her arms, Hope smiled contently as she started to realize that Josie, her best friend, no, her crush, is asleep in her arms. Hope pulled away swiftly, her cheeks warm because of the contact with Josie. Hope thought about how she kissed Josie’s cheek last night, did it seem weird for best friend to kiss each other’s cheek? No it isn’t right? She sighed loudly and it seemed to wake Josie up.

“Morning, birthday girl.” Hope greeted Josie who was still stirring on the bed.

“I don’t wanna wake up. Let’s just stay here.” Josie mumbled and pulled the blanket tighter to her body.

“Oh come on! You got a lot of preparations to do for the party!” Hope tugged the blanket off of Josie but Josie hold on and managed to pull Hope back into the bed. Hope landed on the bed in front of Josie’s face, they were face to face and Hope can hear her own heartbeat thumping loudly and Josie’s eyes are looking right into her eyes with a small pout on her face. It took all of Hope’s will power from kissing Josie right there at that moment. Josie started to lean in and Hope inched her face close to Josie’s but they were startled by the sound of the door opening.

“Oh gross! I would say get a room but you two are already in a room! Please don’t do each other in such a near proximity from me!” Lizzie, Josie’s twin sister, barged into the room.

Hope didn’t know if she should be mad or happy that Lizzie interrupted their moment so she just replied to Lizzie, “Maybe you could learn to knock first before telling people to get a room?” she rolled her eyes at Lizzie.

“Wow. Captain Shortpants, can’t wait to get into my sister’s pants?” Lizzie quipped.

“Whatever, Barbie.” Hope answered, flustered by Lizzie’s remark.

Lizzie chuckled at how Hope was flustered and let it go then she turned to Josie, “Happy birthday, twinnie! Love you so much!” she hugged Josie and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Josie then replied, “Happy birthday to you too, Liz! Love you more!” she smiled at her twin.

“Oh, Jo. She-devil is waiting for you downstairs. I don’t know why the hell she’s coming this early, thought she can only go out at night time.” Lizzie told Josie as she shaked her head, “I don’t understand why her, out of all people.”

Josie frowned a bit at Lizzie’s words, “She likes me, Liz. How many times do I have to tell you that she is good to me? You can’t judge her because you didn’t really know her.” She walked pass Lizzie and then turned to Hope, “I’m going downstairs for a while okay, please keep it civil with my sister here.” she glared at Lizzie.

“Urgh. I don’t understand my sister, she-devil is bad news, hasn’t she heard the rumors?” Lizzie plopped herself at Josie’s bed.

“Well, Josie just sees the good in everyone, I guess.” Hope shrugged her shoulders.

“I just don’t get it! I thought she has a crush on…” Lizzie trailed off as she abruptly walked to the window, “Wow! The weather is very nice today, sunny and breezy, perfect for a garden party! Or maybe I can hold it on the patio! Mikaelson, what do you think?”

Hope was confused why Lizzie changed the topics quickly after talking about Josie’s crush, of course Hope wants to know who Josie has a crush on, Josie never even told her that she got a crush on someone. “Patio sounds good.” Hope answered nonchalantly as she’s racking her brain of who Josie might have a crush on.

“Okay! I’ve got to go! I got a lot to do! Later!” Lizzie walked passed Hope and exited Josie’s room, when she reached the doorframe, Lizzie turned around, “Hey, for what it’s worth. I thought that you’re better suited for my sister compared to the she-devil.” The blonde smirked at Hope.

“Thank you?” Hope said unsure, “But nothing’s happening between us, trust me.”

“Bullshit!”

“Urgh! Just go away! You just said that you got a lot of thing to do!”

Lizzie cackled like a maniac at Hope’s embarrassed reaction of her hinting that there’s something between Hope and her sister.

“Hey Lizzie,” Hope called out, “congratulations, you’re a year closer to your death!”

Not long after Lizzie left, Josie came back to the room with a big smile plastered on her face.

“Hey, what’s gotten into you?” Hope asked.

“Umm so…” Josie smiled brightly, “Penelope asked me to be her girlfriend after she wished me a happy birthday.”

Oh. It’s like a ton of weight was dropped into Hope’s heart. There it was. Hope’s chance to even tell Josie she likes her was gone.

Hope managed to force out a smile, “Jo! I’m so happy for you! I guess that you said yes?”

“Yeah.. I think she’s good to me and I like her.” Josie answered softly.

“Just be careful, okay?” Hope told Josie weakly because she didn’t think that this would crushed her badly, turned out her heart was having a different reaction than what her brain has told her to believe.

Hope couldn’t say anything else to Josie, her mind was blank and she felt that her breath was constricting with every inhale she took. She couldn’t spend a day with Josie without hiding her emotions, she need to get away for a while. She can’t be there, looking at Josie’s warm brown eyes and beautiful face and just accept that she lost her chance of getting together with her crush.

“Jo, I need to go home now, there was an emergency, I gotta get home,” Hope hurriedly collected all of her things in Josie’s room into her bag.

“ Is everything okay?” Josie asked worriedly.

“Yeah, yeah. It’s just… a family emergency.” Hope took her bag and went down the stairs, leaving Josie surprised at her sudden action.

“Hey, Hope! Wait up!” Josie said as she followed Hope to her motorcycle on the driveway. “I hope’s everything okay. Will I see you tonight?”

“Uh,no, I don’t think so,” Hope answered and Josie’s face turned glum when she heard Hope’s answer, “uh, maybe I can come, I don’t know. I’m sorry.” Hope said as she put on her helmet, not wanting to disappoint Josie further.

“Okay.” Josie nodded quietly. “Drive safe, Hope.” She said with a small voice.

“Yeah, bye Jo…” Hope started her motorcycle engine and got away from Josie’s house and as she rode back to her house, she felt that tears were streaming down her eyes. Why does it hurt so much? Why can’t Hope confess to Josie before it’s too late?

Hope arrived at her house and parked her motorcycle and she tried to quietly sneak upstairs to her room, not wanting her aunts to notice, Hope just can’t deal with any questions right now. She felt like a mess and she just wanted to bury her head in her pillow and just stay in her room forever. Hope tiptoed upstairs and she safely reached her room and fell asleep, she just wanted to forget the pain she’s in. She can’t cry or else she won’t stop crying and wallowing over her heartache. Hope decided to just shut all her feelings out and get herself to fall asleep to take her mind off what happened. Maybe she’ll feel better after she took a good, long nap.

Nope. It doesn’t work. Hope totally did not feel better after waking up, instead she felt worse because she knew that she actually promised Josie that she was going to spend the whole birthday weekend with Josie and now Hope ran away and she might’ve make Josie think that she won’t be coming to the party. Hope knew that Josie did not like big parties, Lizzie was the one who wanted to throw a big party with a lot of friends and strangers but Josie did not say anything to her twin because she knew that it was important for her twin. Hope knew that Josie’s wish for her birthday was only to spend it with people she love, she does not need all the celebrations and gifts, that’s why Hope knew that spending time with Josie was a big deal and the younger girl really wished that Hope will go through the party by her side to make it less of a bummer for her.

Hope checked her phone and she got several texts from Josie asking about the ‘emergency’ her family had and after about seven texts, Josie stopped texting. Hope was feeling more and more guilty that Josie actually cared about her enough that she’s checking up on the lies Hope told Josie. When Hope was lost in her own thoughts, a knock came from her door and Freya craned her head inside Hope’s room.

“Hey, I don’t think you were home. Can I come in?” she asked Hope’s permission.

“Yeah, sure, Aunt Freya, come sit.” Hope patted her bed for her aunt to join her.

“What’s wrong, littlest wolf?” Freya asked her and it made Hope missed her parents more because that’s what they liked to call her back then.

Hope was frowning now and she sniffled a bit, feeling the tears welling up in her eyes, she did not want to be emotional, she should stay strong. “Nothing… just feeling not really well.”

“Are you okay?” Freya put her palm on Hope’s forehead to check on her temperature, “Did you use your jacket when you were riding your motorcycle? Or did you rode through the rain that you might get a cold?” she nagged on Hope.

Hope smiled a bit at her aunt’s questions, her heart warmed a bit by the affection showed by her aunt, “No..I’m okay. Really, Aunt Freya. I was just…” Hope trailed off, realizing that she can’t even tell her aunt what’s wrong, it’s too soon for her to admit her feelings for Josie out loud, because if she did, she’ll just remember that Josie is Penelope’s girlfriend now.

“Hey, you don’t have to tell me.” Freya hugged her tightly, “Just talk to me when you’re ready. I’ll always be here, Hope.”

Hope tightened her hug on Freya, hoping her aunt knew how much she loved her without even saying it.

“Wait… Hope, is this about Josie? Weren’t you supposed to be at her house all weekend?” Freya asked Hope curiously.

“No… Josie’s actually fine, we had fun yesterday and she was going to throw a birthday party today. Not her, but her twin sister, exactly.” Hope rolled her eyes as she told Freya.

“I know all of this, Hope. You told me that you were going to stay at Josie’s all weekend because of her birthday. And you were pretty excited when you asked for my permission.” Freya was confused at why Hope was home instead of being in Josie’s house.

“Uh…” Hope can’t answer Freya’s question without telling her the truth of what was happening to her in case of her intense feelings for Josie. “Things changed, I guess?” Hope shrugged her shoulders and cursed herself for the lame answer she gave to her aunt; she knew that her aunt wasn’t going to accept the answer. Obviously. “Aunt Freya, can I ask you something?”

“Okay, sure, what is it?”

“How did you know if you love someone?”

“Oh boy. Out of all of the questions I imagined you asking me, I would never think that you’d ask me this.” Freya answered as she chuckled.

“Well, you know that you love a person when you wanted to protect them at all times and their happiness is your happiness too, even if it means letting them go. Their happiness is what matters most to you and you feel like you could do anything for them, as long as they are happy.” Freya told Hope solemnly. “I actually still have some answers for you but let’s just keep it simple, okay? At least that’s what I felt when I realized that I love Keelin. Did you know I tried to drive her away out of the town because I was trying to let her go and find her own happiness?”

“Oh.” Hope can only responded shortly because she was thinking back about her and Josie; she was willing to do anything for Josie if it means making the girl smile. Hope knows that she should go back and come to Josie’s party, she promised Josie to get through the party with her. Hope couldn’t believe that her own ego caused her to abruptly run away from her best friend.

“Hope, are you in love with someone?” Freya asked, raising her left eyebrow, scrutinizing her niece.

Before Hope got the chance to answer, their telephone rang and Freya ran out of her room to answer the call. After a while, Freya went back to Hope’s room with a questioning look, “Hope, why did Josie ask me about a family emergency?”

Shit. Hope’s face turned pale. “What did you say to her, Aunt Freya?”

“Of course I told her, everything’s fine since there’s no family emergency.”

“No. Oh god no. Dammit.” Hope buried her face on her hands as she paced back and forth in her room. Hope can’t blame anyone but herself for the consequences she must face now because of her lie.

“Aunt Freya, I messed up with Josie. She’s gonna hate me.” Hope told Freya as she paced herself around the room, breathing raggedly, her anxiety increasing. She messed up real bad.

“Hope.” Freya moved closer to her, “Hey, Hope. Stop.” She held on to Hope’s shoulders, making her stay in her place, “Breathe.”

Hope inhaled and exhaled slowly but her mind was only on one thing which was Josie’s disappointment from finding out the truth.

“Hope, I don’t know what’s going on between you and Josie. And from what I guess, you lied to her about the family emergency? “ Freya tried to hypothesize what happened between Hope and Josie. Hope just nodded weakly at Freya’s question.

“Okay. I don’t want to ask you the reason, but you know that we value honesty a lot, right? Now, you need to make it right if you really care about her. Just apologize to her and tell her the truth.” Freya suggested to Hope.

Hope stared at the floor and nodded her head again as Freya left her room and she slumped on her bed, thinking how stupid she was for lying to Josie and making the girl disappointed. Hope was not ready to tell Josie the truth, she did not even know if Josie still wanted her to show up at her party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okaay, how is ittt? sorry for the angst but you guys should know that i'm a sucker for angst so i will be most likely writing a lot of hosie angst in this work and more works to come. lol forgive me guys.  
> thank you for reading! kudos and comments are much appreciated! have a nice day, people!


	5. i don't know anything but i know i miss you (part 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Did Hope showed up to Josie's party or not? Angst angst and more angst :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! another update! thank you for all of your kind comments and kudos on the previous chapter. this is the last part of the section and we're gonna be moving to another section on the next update. i must warn you that this chapter contain angst :) so, enjoy! hope you guys like it!

By 3 p.m., Hope was still laying around on her bed, playing with her phone, listening to her emo playlist, just wallowing around with the thought of how she made Josie disappointed and should she come to the party or not because she knows that Josie is probably mad at her. Suddenly her phone rang and she picked up, “Hello?”

“What the hell did you do to my sister?!”

“Wha-Wait! Lizzie?!”

“No, it’s Britney! Duh, of course it’s me! Who else?!”

“Oh, okay… What’s the matter?”

“Don’t you dare playing dumb, Mikaelson! Let me ask you one more time, what the hell did you do to Josie?”

“Uh well.. she kinda find out that I lied to her about why I left your house this morning…”

“Ah-ha! I know it! You left because of the Satan’s spawn! Of course, I’m right, again!”

“No! I just had something that needs to be taken care of… so I went home.”

“Liar, liar, pants on fire! Josie said you left abruptly without telling her why and of course now she’s shutting herself on her room and singing and playing those emo songs you both love to hear with her ukulele.”

“Is she mad? I mean… if she’s mad I’ll try to apologize to her and give her some space, I’d understand that she probably hates me right now.”

“Of course she’s mad! You promised her that you’re going to spend the whole weekend with her and she was really excited when she told me. And you promised her to be at the party. So, drag your ass here and do something or I swear to god I’ll drag you myself out of the Oompa-Loompa’s village!”

“Urgh. I don’t even know what the heck you’re talking about.”

“Oh god what did I do to deserve this? Can’t believe you didn’t know what’s an Oompa Loompa. Just get here, you savage.” Lizzie then hanged up the phone.

Hope was right, she disappointed Josie and she need to make it right, she remembered what Freya said about loving someone, Hope should be able to put aside her selfishness and she should be making Josie happy by coming to the party and being her best friend. She took a quick shower and she gets ready for Josie’s party. Hope wore her leather jacket with a white shirt inside, ripped jeans and of course her combat boots, she’s so done with Lizzie patting her head like a dog just to spite her because she’s short. Hope rode her motorcycle with her thoughts running around because she’s worried that Josie would stop being friends with her. She needs to fix this.

When Hope arrived, the party had already started and she found MG and Rafael hanging out in a corner as she greeted them.

“Hey, guys.” Hope nodded her head to the both of them.

“Yo, Hope!” “Hey, Hope.” MG and Rafael answered her at the same time.

“Hope, where you from? I thought you were with Josie all weekend?” MG asked her because probably Josie told him about their plans.

“I came from home, just got something to do so I came back here.” Hope answered quickly, not wanting MG to sense that there’s something wrong between her and Josie.

“Any of you has seen Josie?” Hope asked.

“I saw her with Penelope on the patio, I think.” Rafael told Hope, “Are they dating? They seem…close.” Rafael finished as he spoke uncertainly.

“Nah, don’t think so. Josie has a-“ MG stopped in the middle of his sentence and his eyes widened as if he forgot something, “Oh god! I forgot! Need to find Lizzie, she was asking me to help with…uh… with the confetti. Got to go, catch you later!” he zoomed his way out hurriedly into the patio, trying to find Lizzie.

Hope was suspicious of how weird MG was acting, he was about to say something about Josie and he stopped, Hope has a feeling that MG was going to say that Josie’s got a crush, and Lizzie was talking about Josie’s crush also this morning. Hope was sure that Josie’s got a crush on someone, but who is it? She furrowed her brows, trying to figure out, who might Josie like. Oh, is it Rafael? That’s maybe why MG got away from her and Rafael quickly, because he did not want to slip up in front of Rafael. Ugh, Hope did not understand what Josie sees in Rafael because if she’s not wrong, Rafael has been interested in Lizzie for quite some time. Anyone who’s stupid enough not to notice Josie does not deserve her, Hope thinks to herself. As she was lost in her own thought, she hear that Rafael was calling her.

“Hey Hope, you okay? Do you need any drinks?” Rafael asked her, concerned because she was spacing out.

“That would be great. Thanks.” Hope told Rafael as she gave him a smile and he went to take the drinks. Rafael came back with his friend, a curly haired boy with kind smile and black hair.

Rafael handed Hope her drink and said, “Hope, have you met Landon? He’s my brother.”

Landon offered his hand for Hope to shake, “Hey, Hope. Nice meeting you.” He was looking at Hope with an expectant look.

Hope took his hand and shook it briefly, “Brother?” she raised her eyebrow, looking back at forth from Landon to Rafael.

“Uh, foster brother, actually.” Landon answered her as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

“Oh, well. Did you go to Salvatore too?” Hope asked Landon.

“No, I actually go to Mystic High.” he told her.

Hope was about to answer Landon when she saw Josie passed her and did not even bother to greet her so she decided to follow her, “Sorry, I’ve got to go. Nice meeting you, Landon! Bye Raf!” then she quickly followed Josie and grabbed her hand.

“Jo, hey!” she called out to Josie.

“How did the family emergency go?” Josie asked her with a stern face.

“I-I’m sorry, Jo. Really, I’m so sorry I lied to you.” Hope apologized as she squeezed Josie’s hand.

“You can just tell me if you’re sick of spending time with me, you know..” Josie said to Hope, her voice full of sadness as she hung her head low.

“Of course, no, Jo! I will never get tired of spending time with you. It’s just I got my own stuff to deal with and I was being really selfish by stupidly lying to you. Trust me, I did not mean all of this to happen. I am so, so sorry, Josie.” Hope was feeling guiltier when Josie assumed that Hope went home because she was tired of spending time with Josie.

“Please, forgive me?” Hope pleaded to Josie as she looked at Josie expectantly.

“Don’t do this to me again, okay?” Josie answered, holding out her pinky finger for Hope to do a pinky promise with. Hope linked her pinky finger with Josie’s, “I won’t. I’ll keep my words.“ she looked into Josie’s warm brown eyes, promising her solemnly.

Suddenly, Josie was yanked from Hope by Penelope who was side-eyeing Hope. “Hey, Jo-jo.” she gave Josie a kiss on the cheek. Josie blushed at the gesture and she smiled widely and Hope’s heart broke a little, knowing that Josie was happy, just not with her.

“Uh, I’ll leave you to it then.” Hope told them both and quickly got back inside the house, wanting to be anywhere but in front of Josie and Penelope. And the rest of the night Hope was barely with Josie since she is attached at the hip with Penelope. It crushed Hope’s heart little by little but Hope kept reminding herself that as long as Josie’s happy, she would do anything to keep it that way. Now, Penelope’s making Josie happy so she needs just to let them be together and Hope just need to be able to control her emotions all night. However, circumstances seem to disagree with her. Hope was hanging out with Kaleb, Jed and Alyssa when she saw Penelope flirting with a girl. She was infuriated and she knew that Penelope was going to break Josie’s heart, she didn’t want to ruin anything but she needs to protect her best friend. So Hope approached Penelope and when the girl Penelope was flirting with saw Hope, she hurriedly went away probably because of the rage in Hope’s eyes.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Hope asked Penelope in a low voice, not wanting to cause any commotion.

“What?” Penelope just raised her eyebrow to Hope nonchalantly.

“I knew that you’re up to something. Why the hell did you ask Josie to be your girlfriend if you’re going to dump her on the same day for another girl? Is she just a name on a list you crossed off?” Hope grunted angrily, trying to control her temper.

“What does my love life matter to you? You’re just like Josie’s guard dog.” Penelope scoffed at Hope’s questions. “As a matter of fact, that girl was flirting with me, not the other way.”

“Unbelievable, you still have the guts to lie. Listen, if I saw, heard or even sensed that you might hurt Josie, you’ll regret it.” Hope threatened Penelope, her palms balled up into a fist, holding in her anger.

“Oh, what are you gonna do? Try me.” Penelope sneered at Hope’s threat, “Do you even think that if you do anything to me, Josie will forgive you? Who will she trust more, me or you? Knowing what happened today, I just can say that she’s going to have a hard time of trusting you again.”

“You—“Hope’s answer was cut because a hand was dragging her away from Penelope and brought her into the garden, it was Josie.

When Josie turned around she looked pissed and before Hope can ask what happened, Josie spoke, “What’s the matter with you, Hope?!”

“What? You were the one who dragged me here.” Hope shrugged her shoulders not wanting to acknowledge about her not-so-quiet quarrel with Penelope.

“What are you mad at Penelope for? I thought that you said you would try to be friends with her, Hope.” Josie said, her face down casted.

“She’s—“ Hope wanted to tell Josie that Penelope was flirting with another girl but it would break Josie’s heart and Hope was kinda uncertain if it was true or not because she actually believed Penelope that maybe it was the girl who was flirting with Penelope, not the other way around.

“What, Hope? She’s what?” Josie questioned her intensely.

“She said something that pissed me off and I let my emotions get the better of me, I’m sorry, Jo. It’s my fault.” Hope looked down and she was mad at herself for making Josie disappointed for the second time on her birthday.

“I just want my best friend and my girlfriend to get along, Hope. Is that so hard?” Josie asked softly.

Hope felt like she can’t breathe with the mention of ‘girlfriend’ by Josie, Josie really cared about Penelope to defend her from Hope. It hurts her heart more as she’s trying to slowly accept that she’s the one who should let go of Josie because she’s happy.

“Yeah, I’m sorry, I didn’t trust her because I don’t know her and I heard a lot of things about her, maybe if I know her better, I’ll get along with her. I’ll try next time, Jo. Forgive me? I didn’t mean to disappoint you again.” Hope swallowed the bile she has felt rising in her.

“Stop apologizing, Hope. I know that you’re just being a good best friend who looks out for me. Despite what people are saying about her, she always treated me kindly and sweetly. I believe her more than what people said about her. Unless…you got another reason for me not to?” Josie explained to Hope and her last statement seems like a challenge for Hope, like she was trying to get Hope to tell her the reason why she was quarreling with Penelope at the first place.

“No, no… of course if she treated you well, you should be with her. What matters is your happiness, Jo. You should be happy with her. I’m happy for you.” Hope said with a low voice, not trusting herself to speak more because she’s afraid that she will cry if she says more.

“You really mean that, Hope?” Josie asked, her eyes sparkling with happiness. Hope nodded her head and Josie hugged her, “Thank you, so much, Hope. You really mean a lot to me, so it makes me very happy knowing that you’re happy for me.”

When Josie was about to say something, the music started blasting loudly and she heard Lizzie calling out to Josie, looking for her because it was almost time to cut the cake.

“Go ahead, Jo. It’s your birthday; you should cut the cake with Lizzie.” Hope looked over the patio while the cake was being brought out.

Josie was looking at Hope with her soft, brown eyes, her gaze was locked on Hope and she seemed like she was trying to say something but she can’t quite put it out into words.

“Jojo! Come on, it’s time to blow out the candles and cut the cake!” Penelope called out to Josie when she saw that Josie and her walking out of the garden as she extended her hand to Josie.

Josie looked back at Hope and Hope gave her the most encouraging smile she could put on as she gestured her head toward Penelope. “Go, be with her. She’s waiting for you.”

Josie walked toward Penelope reluctantly, away from Hope but at the time she reached Penelope, she was smiling widely as she took Penelope’s hand. And Hope can only hold out for so long before she released a shuddered breath, not realizing that she’s been stopping herself from breaking down. Her heart aches so badly but looking at Josie’s bright smile help numbed the pain away, even if it’s just for a bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how was it? please do tell!  
> btw I'm really enjoying writing Lizzie's part, lol kudos and comments are appreciated! thank you!


	6. I know where it all went wrong (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls are going on a school dance and the angst ensues and the dramas are starting to show up here and there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello guyss! it's an update! and i have to apologize first to you all because i have some control issues in writing Hosie. I got into some writer's block for most of the time and when I started writing, it seems that I can't stop. Anybody here have the same problem? :(( halp me. please forgive me...  
> So...back to my control issue, this section will be divided again into two chapters (hopefully), this chapter will be mostly from Hope's POV of the dance and the next one will be in Josie's POV. Idk why but I really like writing the interactions between Hope and Freya aside from Hope and Lizzie.   
> I also inserted some references from other tv shows, enjoy! :P  
> Hope you guys like it, the angst are continuing and there will be some *cough cough* dramas.   
> Without further ado, please enjoy some premium Hosie content! ;)

**_Betty, I know where it all went wrong  
Your favorite song was playing  
From the far side of the gym  
I was nowhere to be found  
I hate the crowds, you know that  
Plus, I saw you dance with him_ **

Josie hated school dances, well, hate is a strong word but she really does not like school dances, or any parties for what it’s worth. The only reason she agreed to come is because of Penelope begging her to come and Josie was convinced that she could be having fun with Penelope by her side. Lizzie seems to be a bit impressed because Penelope managed to make Josie come to the dance willingly because usually Lizzie always dragged Josie to the dances in exchange for some favors. And Hope, she’s just like Josie, she hated these kind of events because they both know that it was such a stupid thing, dressing up for a night only to dance and attract attention from some stupid boys or girls. Josie hasn’t told her best friend that she was actually agreeing to go to the dance with Penelope and she really wanted Hope to come also so they can have fun together. However, it seems that they saw less and less of each other especially since Josie’s birthday party. Josie thought that everything’s okay with her and Hope because they had talk and Josie felt that her birthday weekend was amazing, she thought Hope enjoyed it too despite the fights they had. But maybe Josie is wrong. They are getting more distant with each other and Josie can’t quite point out where they went wrong.

One sunny afternoon Josie saw Hope sitting by the park bench while she was walking home with Lizzie from the Mystic Grill.

:”Liz, go ahead. I’m going to say hi to Hope, we’ve barely seen each other anymore.” Josie said as she lets go of her sister’s arm that was previously looped with hers.

“Wow. She’s literally the embodiment of a sad dog meme.” Lizzie wiggled her eyebrows.

“Lizzie!” Josie scolded her in a low voice, “If you got nothing good to say to Hope, just shoo!”

“She’s clearly brooding and moping because of you Jo! Trust me!” Lizzie blurted out before she started to walk away.

“What the hell did I do wrong?!” Josie ran her hand through her hair as she sighed frustratedly.

“Oh god. Why can’t nobody believe me! I’m always right! I’m like Brainiac-5 but a thousand times hotter.” Lizzie rolled her eyes, not bothering to answer Josie’s question.

Josie shaked her head at her sister’s nerdy reference and walked toward her best friend. As she got closer to Hope, she noticed that the older girl was listening to music and it made her oblivious to what’s happening around her. Hope sat still, her blue eyes wandering afar, her forehead a bit scrunched and her lips stretched into a tight line. She looks like she got a lot on her mind and Josie really wants to make her worry go away. Despite the fact that Hope was fretting over something, she still looked beautiful; Josie smiled at the sight of her best friend. She really misses Hope.

Josie was standing behind the park bench and she covered Hope’s eyes with her hand and her other hand removed one of Hope’s earphone.

“Guess who?” She whispered at Hope’s ear and she can felt the older girl flinched at the contact and Josie was giggling at her best friend’s reaction.

“Oh my god, Josie! You startled me!” Hope exclaimed and she can’t help but smiled at the sight of her best friend.

“You’re cute when you’re surprised,” Josie blurted as she wrapped her arms around Hope’s neck and rested her chin on top of Hope’s head, “I really miss you.” She said as she sighed contentedly.

“We just met each other at school yesterday, Jo. Don’t be silly,” Hope chuckled as she pat a spot next to her, motioning for Josie to sit with her.

“Yeah, we met but we don’t talk to each other, it seems like I can never get you all to myself anymore.” Josie pouted as she crossed both of her arms.

“Aww, I don’t know that you’re the clingy type,” Hope stucked her tongue out and poked Josie’s cheek, she’s just too adorable.

“I meant it Hope,” Josie still pouted, “I thought that we’re okay, but why does it seem that we’re seeing each other less and less?”

“We’re busy Jo, that’s normal. And now, you’ve got Penelope, I don’t want to be taking you away from her. That’s how it supposed to be, she’s your girlfriend and I’m your best friend, it’s just right that you spend more time with her.” Hope shrugged, not realizing that her tone was a bit bitter. “Not spending time as much as we usually did does not mean that something’s not okay between us.” Hope added, not wanting Josie to catch her jealousy.

Hope was trying her best to be happy for Josie but it’s hard and it hurts her, she’s stuck in a conundrum because she really want to spend her time with Josie but at the same time she’s reminded that Josie will never be hers. Josie did not respond to Hope’s statement and they both sit in a comfortable silence and then Hope took Josie’s hand in hers, “Jo, everything’s fine, things are changing, but I’ll always be here for you.” She convinced Josie and maybe she was also trying to convince herself too.

Josie tightened their hands together and sighed, moving herself closer to Hope as she laid her head on Hope’s shoulder, “You always seem to know how to make me feel better.” Josie exhaled, feeling relieved and calm at the same time because Hope always have this effect on her, no matter how bad Josie’s day or how worse she felt, things become better when she spend time with Hope, not mentioning that Hope seems to know how to do everything right in making her feel better.

“So… what are you doing here, brooding like some emo kid on an existential crisis?” Josie asked Hope, smirking as she played with their intertwining fingers.

“Nothing… I was just vibing with the playlist to clear my head. And the next thing I know an annoying girl with a pout disturb my so-called brooding,” Hope answered with a shrug.

“Hey! I’m not annoying!” Josie bumped her shoulder softly with Hope’s.

“And where did you come from, annoying girl? Or were you stalking me?” Hope raised her eyebrows teasing Josie more.

“I was just from the Mystic Grill with Lizzie but before that we went to the mall to shop for dresses.”

“Dresses? Got some fancy party to attend?”

“Yeah…actually, I will be going to the school dance.”

“What?! What did Lizzie threatened you with this time? Or what did she offer you?” Hope exclaimed surprisedly at Josie’s statement.

“Uhm.. nothing. I actually want to come, Penelope said it might be fun, she told me that we’ll have fun, it might be fun, so why not?” Josie rambled nervously.

“Oh. I see.” Hope answered curtly when she heard that Josie is going to the dance because of Penelope.

“I know that you don’t like these kind of things, but I was thinking,” Josie spoke hesitantly, “maybe you’d like to come too? It’ll be awesome if you do; it’ll be fun if we’re together, right?”

Hope did not know how to answer Josie because she did not plan on going, plus the thought of seeing Josie and Penelope together all night makes her stomach nauseous.

“I don’t think so, Jo. I didn’t plan on going,” Hope shrugged her shoulders, “and I did not want to interrupt you and Penelope. You go, have fun with her.”she added tensely.

“Guess I’ve tried,” Josie muttered softly knowing that Hope will most likely reject her invitation. “Okay then, I need to get going, I still have some chores to do at home. Please, return to your brooding comfortably.” Josie said sarcastically, changing the mood of their conversation that seems to be tense. Hope chuckled at her remarks and it felt that the tension between them was gone.

“Okay, shoo!” Hope pretended to drive Josie away but then she pulled Josie back and gave her a hug, “Bye, Jo” she smiled at Josie.

“Bye Hope.” Josie waved at the older girl and walked back home. On the walk back, her mind wandered to why the mood always seem to change whenever she brought up Penelope with Hope. Maybe, Hope still doesn’t trust Penelope even though she had promise to Josie that she will try getting along with Penelope. On the other hand Josie also felt guilty because lately she has been spending a lot of time with Penelope, which might be the reason why Hope was always tense when they were talking about Penelope.

* * *

On Thursday afternoon, Hope texted Josie that she will be coming to the dance but with one condition that Josie should granted a request or wish that Hope would like her to do. Josie of course was really excited with the thought of Hope coming to the dance, without any further bargaining, Josie agreed to the condition.

Hope agreed to go to Josie’s first and they will go together to school, Hope was really looking forward to bring her motorcycle but it turns out that Lizzie will be going with them too so they need to take the car. The plans changed and it was decided that Aunt Freya will be driving them to school.

Hope picked a simple black dress paired with her favorite leather jacket and black heels, she hates those fabulous dresses with laces and glitters, and she never feels comfortable in them. On the way to Josie’s house she wondered about what Josie will wear. She looks good in everything and Josie will most likely be wearing whatever Lizzie told her to wear, they usually have some matching elements on their outfits, it’s like being fraternal twins is not obvious enough to show people that they are related. Hope smiled at the thought and shaked her head lightly.

“What a miracle. My lovely brooding nice is actually excited in going to a dance! Oh, it must be so exciting! I’ve always wanted to attend one,” Freya stated excitedly.

“You know I don’t like dances right? Josie made me go,” Hope rolled her eyes and she added, “you know what, Aunt Freya, you can be my plus one to the dance, or even better, go to the dance in my place.” Hope snickered because she knew that her aunt did not really experience these kinds of school events since she was homeschooled as a child.

“Such a nice offer from the littlest wolf,” she patted Hope’s head, “I’ll consider it, I would be very delighted to have fun at the dance with Josie.” Freya replied as she wiggled her eyebrows gleefully.

“Ew, no! Why did you like hanging out with my best friend so much? Go socialize with people your age! For example, you have Nico and Karolina to catch up with, they were asking about you when I watched their concert.” Hope countered knowing fully that her aunt was teasing her.

“Of course I like hanging out with Josie, she’s like the best!” Freya exclaimed with her best Valley Girl accent as she waved her left hand excitedly and the other hand was on the wheel.

“Wow! Aunt Keelin need to hear about all this when I got home,” Hope smiled mischievously at her aunt.

“By the way, speaking of Nico and Karolina, I did text Nico recently and we were planning to meet but they were still busy with tours. And they both told me that they thought that you and Josie were dating at first.” Freya told Hope.

Hope blushed a bit when she remembered how Nico and especially Karolina assumed that she and Josie were dating. Hope was surprised that Karolina even told them that they made a cute couple.

“You two really make a beautiful couple by the way,” Freya stated and Hope was shook at her aunt’s statement and she abruptly turned her head toward Freya, “We’re not--!”

“…I mean, as a couple of best friends. I didn’t say that I was done speaking, didn’t I?” Freya continued sassily as she holds back her laughs looking at her flustered niece.

“I hate you!” Hope exclaimed frustratedly as she hit her aunt’s arms playfully.

“Hey, hey! I’m driving right here, dearest niece,” Freya laughed loudly because she knew that Hope was fooled by her statement. Hope crossed her arms and pouted, Freya was still laughing at her successful attempt of teasing Hope.

After a 15 minutes’ drive, they arrived at the Saltzman’s residence and Hope knocked the door and she was nervously standing in front of the house, it was very stupid of her because she went to Josie’s most of the time and it wasn’t like Hope was Josie’s date for the dance, so why the hell does her nerves freaking out?! Luckily her freaking out moment stopped when the door opened and Caroline was smiling sweetly at her, “Hey Hope, Freya! Come in, the girls will be down in a while.” She gestured for the both of them to come inside.

“Girls! You ready? Hope’s here!” Caroline shouted upstairs then she turned her attention toward Hope and Freya, “Hope, you look really pretty! Love those heels!” Caroline complimented Hope, “And Freya, thanks for driving the girls to school!” she smiled sincerely toward Aunt Freya.

“Thanks, Mrs. Forbes,” Hope answered, followed by Freya, “No big deal, Caroline. It was my pleasure.”

Not long after, Hope heard footsteps from the stairs and she eagerly walked to the stair because she can’t wait to see Josie, this stupid feelings of Hope needs to really go away but what else can she do, she’s doomed. Hope was smoothing her dress down when she heard, “Why are you lurking on the stairs like a lap dog, Mikaelson?”

“Ugh,you.” Hope rolled her eyes because she thought that it was Josie, not Lizzie.

“Rude.” Lizzie chastised her as she went down the stairs. “And by the way, what’s wrong with you?!” Lizzie berated Hope in a shushed voice.

“What the hell did I do?!” Hope questioned Lizzie’s sudden accusation; she did not even know what she did.

“Why did you let Josie date Satan’s spawn?” she hissed at Hope

“Why is it my fault that Josie’s dating Penelope?” Hope scrunched her eyebrows.

“I thought you were gonna grow a pair and declare your undying love to my sister!” Lizzie rolled her eyes as if it was an obvious fact.

“What?!” Hope’s eyes bulged out, is she that obvious? Or is that just Lizzie messing with her?

“Oh, spare me the fake surprised reaction,” Lizzie waved her hand, “I always saw you mooning over my sister like a lost and sad puppy.”

“Josie’s happy with Penelope, she told me so.” Hope said, not wanting to acknowledge Lizzie’s statement about her crush on Josie.

“Yeah, but she can be happier if—“ Lizzie abruptly stopped and stared at the wall.

“If?” Hope raised her eyebrow, waiting for Lizzie’s statement.

“Oh, do you notice that there’s a crack on the wall? Or you didn’t? Oh my god, am I experiencing the same thing like Hannah Grose in the Haunting? Am I dead?!” Lizzie bombarded Hope with her questions, dramatically changing the subject.

“What the hell?” Hope was sure that Lizzie was about to say something about what makes Josie happier but she stopped. Why doesn’t Lizzie want to tell Hope about what makes Josie happy? Is it a bad thing, or what? It’s very weird.

Before Lizzie can answered Hope’s confusion, Josie went down the stairs and greeted Hope, “Hi, Hope.” She said softly as she smiled at Hope and Hope can feel her breath hitched at the sight of her best friend. Josie was wearing a white dress with a denim jacket and flats. It was a simple outfit but it was very pretty in Hope’s eyes. And now Josie was standing in front of her, tucking her hair in her ear.

“What do you think of the dress?” she asked Hope. Hope was still looking at Josie and all she can think was how Josie smelled like vanilla and that she was really beautiful and wow, Hope can’t even think of a word that could describe Josie perfectly.

“Good.” Hope answered and she instantly regretted her answer because she suddenly lost her ability to conjure any adjectives. Good? What is she? A kindergarten student who just learn about adjectives?

“Good?! Is that all that you’re going to say? Nice vocabulary, Courage the Cowardly Dog,” Lizzie scoffed at Hope’s inability to express her thought about the dress. Hope is a hundred percent sure that the dress was Lizzie’s choice.

“Lizzie!” Josie nudged Lizzie’s ribs, “Stop being so hostile toward Hope.”

“What?! I’m just saying the truth! Good is not enough, good is just _ringarde!_ “ Lizzie emphasized on the French word.

“ _Ringarde?_ ” Hope tried to understand Lizzie, “Jo, please can you translate what your sister’s saying, it sounds like she was trying to hold back her vomit while speaking.” Hope actually got Lizzie’s reference because Josie had forced her to binge-watch _Emily in Paris_ with her. Hope can’t deny that the show is such a guilty pleasure even though the storyline’s too idealistic. However, pretending not to understand Lizzie’s culture pop references has been amusing enough for her because then Lizzie will get frustrated that people did not understand her at all.

Josie just chuckled because she knew that Hope understood what Lizzie meant and it was a way of getting under Lizzie’s skin and before Josie had a chance to answer, Freya and her mom walked toward them and they both gasped, “Oh my god, you girls look so pretty! Let me take your pictures!”

Freya and Caroline took out their cellphones and started to snap pictures of them, the three girls shake their heads at the excitement but they actually appreciated that both Freya and Caroline really cared about them. Lizzie was posing for a selfie on her phone and then Josie tugged at Hope’s hand as she took out her cellphone and opened the camera, motioning Hope to take a selfie with her. And when they were smiling for the camera, Hope realized that Josie was wearing the necklace she gave her, Hope’s smile brightly at what she saw.

After the picture session, they all entered the car because they don’t want to be late to the dance and Freya dropped them at school with a “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”, Hope, Lizzie and Josie rolled their eyes and chuckled at Freya’s statement because they know that Freya never went to any school dance because she’s homeschooled and so she didn’t do anything fun for at least a decade of her life.

* * *

Upon entering the school’s gym, Josie linked her arms with Lizzie on her left side and Hope on her right side. She was actually excited in going to the dance and especially with her two favorite people by her side. Lizzie abruptly left because she saw Sebastian, an exchange student from French, waving at her. It’s been Lizzie’s obsession to find a French guy since she saw Emily in Paris. Josie chuckled at her sister’s eagerness. Then, she was left alone with Hope. Josie felt that Hope’s been eyeing her at the car and Josie was pretty nervous to be left alone with Hope with their arms still linked together.

“Hey, I’m glad you decided to come,” Josie break the silence.

“Yeah, I’m glad too,” Hope answered with a sincere smile.

“You look really pretty tonight, Hope,” Josie smiled sheepishly as she complimented Hope.

Hope felt a blush creeping to her cheek but decided to play off Josie’s comment, “Oh, so I only look pretty tonight? Good to know.” Hope pretended to be hurt and she frowned at Josie.

“No! Not at all! I think you look pretty always! All the time! Forever!” Josie was embarrassed with her abrupt answers, she was not ready for Hope’s answer.

Hope laughed at Josie’s rambles and she was about to say something when Josie felt a hand circling her hips, “Hey babe! Wow! You look pretty!” Penelope looked at Josie from head to toe and she gave Josie a quick peck on her cheek and then glanced at Hope for a second, “Hope.” She nodded at the older girl.

“Penelope.” Hope nodded back, acknowledging Penelope as diplomatic as possible.

Penelope then whispered something at Josie that made her blushed and laughed and she whispered back to Penelope and Hope was really feeling like the worst third wheel ever right now. It was wrong for her to think that she could enjoy the dance with Josie. Obviously, Josie only came because of Penelope; of course she’s going to spend the whole night with Penelope. Hope took a deep breath and as she was planning on excusing herself when she felt a hand placed on her shoulder.

“Hey, Hope.” It was Rafael with MG, Kaleb, Jed and Landon. Hope knew Jed because he was the captain of Mystic Fall High School’s football team, they frequently meet at games and they actually respected each other.

“Hey guys!” Hope was relieved that she could just hang out with the boys for the night rather than being the third-wheel and also torturing herself by pretending to enjoy the dance with Josie and Penelope acting touchy feely with each other all night.

“Hope, you remember Landon, right?” Rafael motioned Landon to move closer toward Hope and then continued, “And also Jed? I invited them both.”

“Yeah, hi Landon.” Hope smiled politely at Landon and he was grinning at Hope and Hope fist bumped with Jed, “Captain.” She greeted her and he greeted her back, “Captain.” And they both pretended to salute each other.

After they greeted each other, Jed moved toward Josie and smiled charmingly at her, extending his hand, “Hey, I’m Jed. And you are?”

Josie was startled at Jed’s introduction but still she took his hand and shake it, “Hello, I’m Josie. Nice to meet you, Jed.”, Josie felt that Hope was scrutinizing her exchange with Jed intensely.

“So, what does a guy got to do to get the prettiest girl here to dance with him?” Jed flashed his perfect white teeth.

“Uh, you can ask her, maybe?” Josie answered uncertainly, not wanting to appear rude.

“Okay, would you dance with me?” he offered his hand toward Josie.

Josie was petrified at the invitation, it was hard for her to reject Jed bluntly because she doesn’t like rejecting people, Hope saw that Josie look cornered so she stepped in between Jed and Josie, raising her hand toward Jed, “Hold up, is everything okay?” she turned to Josie .

Jed replied, “I was just asking Josie here-“

“Shut up. I was talking to her, not you.” Hope growled, her eyes cold, piercing through Jed.

“It’s okay, Hope. I’m okay. Jed was asking me to dance with him and I’m going to say—“

“No, because…” Hope cut off Josie’s answer and trailed off because she hasn’t think about what she’s going to say next.

“Because she’s going to dance with me.” Penelope stride in, a glass punch in one hand, and her eyes shooting daggers toward Jed because she’s ready to fight.

“Yeah, she’s going to dance with her,” Hope finished her interrupted sentence weakly, she was reminded again that Josie will be spending the dance by Penelope’s side, not hers.

“Whoa, okay. Damn, if I had known, I wouldn’t ask Josie,” Jed raised his hands in surrender.

“Well now you know, so just sit your pathetic ass down and stop smiling like you’re in a damn toothpaste commercial,” Penelope snapped at Jed, causing him to back down a bit but then he took a step toward Penelope.

“You dumb-“

“Whoops, Jed, let’s go.” Kaleb stepped in between Penelope and Jed while Rafael, MG and Landon are holding Jed back, stopping him from doing things that he might regret later.

MG then approached Josie and Penelope, “Ladies, why don’t we grab a drink and chill over there,” he motioned toward the bleachers in an attempt to cool down the escalating situation.

Josie was tugging at Penelope’s hand, pulling her toward the punch table, Penelope still glared at Jed with so much anger but then she only scoffed, “You’re not worth my time.” And she followed Josie, their hands clasping together.

The boys were still holding Jed back and Hope stand in front of Jed, trying to talk him out of his anger before he did something stupid, “Jed, listen to me. Breathe. Count to ten. You don’t want to do something that you might regret.” Hope placed her hands on Jed’s shoulders, forcing him to focus. Jed was still seething with anger but Hope can feel that he was calming down. As Jed was getting a bit relaxed, the rest of the boys loosened their grip and they exhaled in relieve.

“Come on Jed, let’s get some air,” Rafael patted Jed’s shoulder and motioned Kaleb to follow him in case Jed get riled up again. Jed is still trying to control himself but as he walked past Hope he muttered a “thanks,” and he quickly walked out of the gym. Kaleb followed him and Rafael also and as Rafael left he mouthed a “thank you” to Hope. Hope nodded at Rafael and gave him a smile. When she was about to turn toward the punch table to look for Josie, a hand stopped her and Landon was smiling giddily at her.

“Wow, Hope, that’s awesome. I mean the almost-fight was not awesome. It could start school riots, who knows what else could happen if they got into a fight. What’s awesome was how you handle Jed. I’ve never seen anyone calmed Jed down so fast. When he’s angry he would most probably punched things first before stopping. You got him to stop before he ruined things here.” Landon rambled quickly as he looked at Hope with awe.

“Erm, it’s not a big deal.” Hope dismissed Landon’s admiration toward her because it was not that much of a big thing.

“Don’t downplay yourself. It was amazing. What you did prevent doomsday from happening, who knew that maybe their fight could lead to school riot, then to mass riot that could turn into world war and ended up in the apocalypse for the world?” Landon spoke lengthily.

Hope scrunched her eyebrows in confusion at Landon’s rambling, he sounded like Lizzie when she was on her full on nerd mode. Not that she will acknowledge it but Hope has seen how Lizzie was crazy about conspiracy theories and hearing Landon jumping from one conclusion into another reminded her of Lizzie. They would surely be a good friend, that is, if Lizzie has enough humanity to see another human being as a friend.

“You sounded weirdly like my friend,” Hope wiggled her eyebrows with amusement of thinking on how Lizzie and Landon will be if they meet each other and talked about geeky things.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Landon smiled confidently and then he faltered, “uh, is it a good thing?” he questioned his previous statement.

“Well, I can say yes or no, it depends, you need to meet my friend and you can see it for yourself then,” Hope chuckled.

“Oh well, in the meantime, may I have this dance?” Landon walked toward the dance floor and he offered his hand to Hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okayyy, how do you guys like the chapter? sorry for leaving you guys with a cliffhanger. do you think that Hope will dance with Landon?
> 
> please tell me what you think! I really appreciate all of the comments from my faithful readers. and also i'm grateful for the kudos. don't be shy, just say hi or say whatever you want to say in the comment! :)
> 
> oh and i might be updating the next chapter sooner than you guys might think, so keep an eye on this fic, eh? *wink wink*


	7. plus i saw you dance with him (part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The continuation of the last chapter mostly from Josie's POV.   
> Will Hope dance with Landon? What will happen to Hosie?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello good people! as i have promised you all, this is a surprise update! turns out that my creative juice are flowing and let me present you the second part of the section.   
> and let me warn you, here comes more angst! i'm sorry, i'm a sucker for angst.  
> i hope the continuation of the dance could meet your expectations! i really love reading all your comments, they made my day and encourages me to write more and better. the same goes for kudos, it adds fuel to my fire. so, thank you guys!  
> lastly, please enjoy this chapter! <3

Meanwhile, Josie was trying to get Penelope to calm down; she grabbed some water and sat beside Penelope at the bleachers. Josie told MG that she can handle it and so MG went away to give her time to talk with Penelope. Her face was stern and still clearly pissed of what happened. Josie thought that Penelope was a bit too much toward Jed, she did not need to insult him to prove her point.

“Here,” Josie handed Penelope a water bottle, “you good, Pen?” Josie said as she sat down.

“Hmph,” Penelope only grunted and drank the whole bottle.

“Hey, calm down okay. He didn’t mean it. And I’m okay. No harm done.” Josie shrugged, trying to get Penelope to stop fuming.

“That douchebag had it coming. He’s not even from this school and he acted so cocky. And he had the nerve to hit on you!” Penelope exclaimed with hatred in her voice.

“Pen,” Josie put her hand on top of Penelope’s, “he didn’t know that we were dating, it’s not anyone’s fault, I was just taken aback by his advance. You didn’t have to insult him like that.”

“I can’t believe you,” Penelope scoffed and shake her head at what Josie said.

“What do you mean?” Josie was confused by her statement.

“I don’t understand why you still defend him even though he was clearly a jerk.” Penelope rolled her eyes.

“As I said before, he didn’t know that we were dating. Come on, Pen, let’s not make this a big deal,” Josie was a bit annoyed because her girlfriend can’t let go of a stupid thing.

“Of course it’s a big deal!” Penelope huffed in annoyance, “He was coming onto you and he knew that you were uncomfortable with him...unless—“ Penelope stopped in the middle of her sentence.

“What? Unless what?” Josie was getting a little bit frustrated by her girlfriend’s behavior.

“Unless you were also flirting with him!” Penelope accused Josie with a venomous tone.

“I responded to him out of politeness! I just answered his questions, what does it matter? Is it my fault now that I’m just being polite?” Josie was raising her voice bit by bit, angry at the accusation Penelope made.

“At least you can act a bit disinterested! But you just can’t do it, you just had to be good to everybody and they will get the wrong idea!” Penelope raised both of her hands in frustration and she was raising her voice too.

“Wow. Now you’re saying that what I did was wrong?” Josie shake her head in disbelief, “You know what? You’re being ridiculous right now.”

“What do you mean by that?” Penelope asked sharply.

“Why were you making this this a big deal? And just so you know, your reaction to Jed was a bit harsh, he was only talking to me and he stopped when Hope interfered. He backed off. And you just had to insult him and get him mad.” Josie told Penelope in a harsh tone, she was really frustrated that Penelope was making all of this a big deal when they were supposed to be having fun.

“Of course, when it’s Hope who interfered you’re being grateful over it but when I’m the one who interfered, you were mad.” Penelope said bitterly.

“What? I don’t care who interfered and nothing really happened okay? You are over-reacting toward all of this!” Josie frowned at how Penelope was bringing Hope into this.

“Over-reacting?! If I do over-react, it will be over the fact that you always choose Hope over me!” Penelope was seething with anger.

“Hope’s my best friend, and what makes you say that? I barely spent time with her anymore because we are dating, and you still dare to say that I’m choosing her?” Josie really can’t deal with Penelope when she’s acting like this.

“Really? So why did Dana told me that she saw you and Hope getting overly snuggly at the park?! She sent me a picture and people were starting to talk about you and Hope, they freaking pitied me because they thought that you cheated on me!” Penelope lashed out and Josie was beginning to understand the real reason why she was so angry.

“It was nothing! Why can’t you believe me more than you believed some stupid gossip from your friend?!” Josie was really mad and Penelope’s only brought this up because the gossip made her look stupid in front of her friends, “Oh, and I didn’t realize that you have such fragile ego to uphold in front of your friends. Just leave me alone.” Josie told Penelope to leave with so much anger brewing inside her. Penelope was mad because the gossip made her look bad, she was being illogically jealous and insecure, Josie just can’t deal with it right now.

Penelope was about to reply to Josie but then she closed her mouth and glared at Josie with fire in her eyes, she swiftly walked away from Josie and Josie was left alone at the bleachers.

She was regretting her decision to come to the dance. See? That’s why she hates coming to dances, it brought up a lot of unnecessary drama and she was not really comfortable with crowds. Penelope was being so frustrating and Josie was really angry because Penelope’s reasons for lashing out are truly selfish.

Josie’s not in the mood anymore for going through the night so she stayed at the bleachers at the side of the gym, calming herself down. She really wanted to go home but she knows that Lizzie will be annoyed at her if she asked her to go home. Josie decided to wait for a bit before she called her mom to pick her up.

When she was lost in her own thought, Josie heard a familiar tune playing, it was _Transatlanticism_ by Death Cab for Cutie, one of Hope’s favorite song. It reminded her of her best friend and Josie wondered where Hope was, she scanned the crowds but she doesn’t seem to be able locating Hope. She just needs to see her best friend’s face to give herself some comfort from what’s happening. And maybe she can have a dance with Hope before she leaves. She has come to the dance so the least thing she could do is of course, dance, right?

Penelope’s words about Hope and her actually surprised Josie a bit. So, people were thinking that they were both dating? If people could think that they were dating, that explained why Penelope was hostile toward Hope and she always seem tense every time they hanged out together with Hope.

Josie’s honestly a bit scared too, she feared that Penelope will find out about her previous feelings for Hope. Well, Josie must confess that she actually has a crush on Hope since god knows when but she knows that it’s impossible that Hope will like her back. So she settled being best friends with Hope and that’s enough for her. That’s why she has moved on and dated Penelope. If Penelope knew about Josie’s long-gone crush on Hope, Josie’s sure she will wage a war on Hope and the situation will be too complicated to handle.

Josie sighed loudly as she scanned the room one more time for signs of Hope and she took out her phone to call Hope but she did not answer, Hope’s phone must be on silent mode, Josie thought to herself. After scanning the room for a while, Josie noticed Hope’s auburn hair in the middle of the crowd on the dance floor. Huh, weird, Hope hates dancing. She actually can dance perfectly because her parents forced her to take dancing lessons when she was little and the Mikaelson family loves to hold fancy parties when Hope’s parents were alive from what Josie heard, however Hope did not enjoy it at all.

Intrigued at what her best friend was doing on the dance floor, Josie got up from the bleachers and walk toward her best friend. Maybe she can dance with Hope, the thought of dancing with Hope excites her and it seems to make her feel better. So Josie seek out her best friend and she found Hope among the crowd and she was dancing with a dark-haired boy, Rafael’s foster brother if Josie’s not wrong.

Josie abruptly stopped walking at the sight of Hope dancing with that boy, something inside Josie shifted and she felt a pang of anger. It was like a monster had awoken at the pit of her stomach and it was trying to get out. She can’t quite understand why she felt this way but Josie decided not to interrupt Hope. She backed off, feeling suffocated, her head hung low and she needed to get some air. Josie quickly walked out of the gym and she felt a sense of relief as she breathed deeply outside. But still, Josie’s chest felt heavy, it was like a ton of bricks had been dumped on her heart, it aches. Her mind unconsciously replayed on how Hope was laughing and dancing with the boy she just met and her eyes stung with hot tears. She furiously wiped away her tears because she was reacting badly on what happened. Hope’s her best friend and Josie has a girlfriend, Hope is free to be with anyone she wants right? Yes, Josie had a past crush on Hope but she’s moved on. So, why the hell it hurts so bad seeing Hope dance with that boy? Urgh, why does she have to be so sensitive about everything?!

Josie’s night was completely ruined now and the only thing she wanted to do is to go home. She tried calling her mom but her mom did not answer her phone. Josie punched the button on her phone furiously because she did not want to break down here. Her feelings were all mixed up, her fight with Penelope and then seeing Hope really frustrated her. Josie went outside of the gym to get better reception and tried calling her mom and then her dad. Still, both of them did not answer. Then, Josie just remembered that her parents are going on a town council meeting, that’s why they did not pick up her calls. Josie huffed in anger and she can feel that tears are streaming down her face, she did not want to be here anymore but she can’t go home. Well, the last option’s to walk back home.

She went back to the gym to tell Lizzie that she will be going home since Lizzie did not pick up her phone too. Josie spotted MG and tapped him on the shoulder, “Hey, MG, have you seen Lizzie?”

“Hey! I saw her on the dance floor I think, she was dancing with that exchange student all night,” MG said a bit sadly because he has a crush on Lizzie but it seems Lizzie only sees him as a best friend. Josie can relate so much to MG when she first starts being friends with Hope and crushing on her at the same time.

“Uhm, can you please tell her that I’m going home first? Just tell her that she can go back with Hope, her aunt will be picking us up again.” Josie asked MG hesitantly because she really did not want to see Hope again.

“What? Why are you going home? Who will pick you up?” MG asked concernedly.

“I was not feeling really well and I think I’ll just walk back home since my parents are in the town council meeting.” Josie lied to MG because she did not want him to worry.

“Why are you walking? Why isn’t Penelope driving you home?” MG questioned her inquisitively.

“Well… we kinda had a fight and I tell her to go away,” Josie told MG embarrassedly.

“Hell no, you’re not walking home. I’ll drive you home. Wait here, I’ll tell Lizzie, she’ll be mad if we just texted her on the way.” MG motioned Josie to stay and he walked into the dance floor.

Josie grabbed his arm, “Wait, MG! Please don’t tell her that I got into a fight with Penelope. All hell will break loose and Lizzie will surely attacked Penelope without hearing any explanations. I don’t want this night to be worse.” She frowned remembering that she was supposed to enjoy tonight but it turns out badly.

MG smiled sympathetically at Josie, “I got you, girl. I won’t say anything. But you’ll have to tell her sooner or later. Or else she will kill me from keeping this from her.” He winked as he patted Josie’s arm, “I’ll be back,” then he got lost in the crowd.

After about five minutes, MG returned and Lizzie was following behind, she rushed past the crowd and put her arm around Josie, “Hey, you okay? MG said you’re not feeling well?” she put her hand on Josie’s forehead, checking if she got a fever.

“Yeah, I’m kinda tired and I just want to go home Liz. MG will drive me home and you just stay here, okay? Enjoy the dance. Aunt Freya will be picking us up again so you can go home with Hope later.” Josie smiled weakly at her twin.

“No, Jo. I’m coming home with you to. Come on MG, let’s go!” she linked her arm on Josie’s as they walked out of the gym.

“Liz, if you want to stay it’s okay. Don’t let me stop you from having fun.” Josie felt bad that Lizzie wanted to go home too because of her.

“I’ve had my fun, Jo. Moreover, I don’t want to go home with Mikaelson. What will people think? I don’t want a rumor spreading about me going home with her. Ew, no. Thinking about it makes me wanna barf.” Lizzie pretended to throw up.

Josie chuckled at her sister’s statement. She knew that Lizzie was pretending to say this in order to make Josie not feel bad of them going home. Josie tightened her link on her sister’s arm and they walked together to MG’s SUV. Josie was quiet the whole drive, Lizzie and MG was talking about a series they watched together but Josie did not pay attention to their conversations since all she can think about is Hope dancing with a guy, replaying over and over again on her mind. It truly makes her miserable but Josie can’t stop thinking about it.

After they arrived and said good bye to MG, Josie quickly went up to her room, washed up and she curled up inside her warm blankets and she was reminded of the time that Hope woke her up on her birthday and gave her the necklace she was using. It saddened Josie more and she will just try to sleep and she hope that she will feel better in the morning.

While Josie was trying to go to sleep, Lizzie entered their adjoining room and sat on Josie’s bed, “Hey, what’s really wrong? I know that you only said that you’re feeling unwell as an excuse. I thought you’re excited about the dance?” Lizzie asked Josie softly.

“Umm...” Josie trailed off, she knew that if she told Lizzie about her fight with Penelope, Lizzie will freaked out. At least they were home so if Lizzie freaked she will be just causing catastrophe at home.

“What? Come on, Jo. You can tell me everything.”

“Promise me first that you won’t do anything stupid, okay?”

“Not if it’s concerning your well-being, I can’t promise that. Just tell me, Jo!”

“Yeah, so.. I got into a fight with Penelope and she left.”

“You what?! What did she do? That basic bitch…” Lizzie snapped and her reaction was just as Josie expected.

“Lizzie. Calm down.” Josie said calmly but stern, “I’ll tell you the details tomorrow. I’m just tired. Oh and by the way, would you text Hope that we won’t be going home with her? I forgot to tell her and my phone’s dead so can you text her, please?”

“Why??” Lizzie questioned exaggeratedly and then she picked up Josie’s phone and it turns out it’s still on, “Hey. Your phone’s not dead.” Lizzie was staring weirdly at Josie.

Josie snatched the phone from Lizzie and pressed the sleep button to turn off the phone, “Now it’s dead. Go text Hope.” Josie said with a poker face.

“What the hell, Jo??” Lizzie was weirded out by her twin’s behavior, “Wait… did you have a fight with the Hound of Baskerville too?”

“Who?? Oh. Please be civil with her. Text her politely.” Josie commanded Lizzie and she did not really want to talk about what happened anymore. Josie herself is still processing her feelings over what happened.

Lizzie understood that her sister will not tell her anything tonight so she kissed Josie’s forehead and wished her a good night.

* * *

On the other hand, Hope was looking for Josie in the gym, she saw Penelope but Josie was not by her side. Something must be wrong, Hope thought to herself. She has been dancing with Landon and talking with him, getting to know each other and she thought that Josie was spending time with Penelope so Hope did not look for Josie. Talking with Landon was actually nice and dancing with him was not that bad either.

While Hope was looking around for Josie, she spotted MG and stopped him, “Hey MG, have you seen Josie?”

“Hey Hope! Oh, didn’t Josie tell you? She went home with Lizzie, I just got back from dropping them off.” MG told her.

Hope was surprised that Josie went home without telling her, and why did she went home? She’s the one who were actually excited about the dance.

“Well, I thought that she was spending time with Penelope so I didn’t see her again after what happened with Jed.” Hope sounded disappointed.

“She actually had a fight with Penelope and that’s the reason she went home.” MG informed Hope and continued “You didn’t hear this information from me, okay? I know that you will be worried about Josie so I told you what happened. Just let her tell you when she’s ready.”

“Oh, okay. Thank you, MG. Thank you for dropping Josie home too.” Hope thanked MG with a sincere smile. “I gotta head back home now, my aunt’s actually in front.” Hope said as she checked her phone to see a message from Lizzie. “Bye, MG! See you on Monday.” Hope gave MG a hug and walked out of the gym.

On the way home, Hope did not really pay attention to what her aunt was saying. When she got into the car she told her aunt that Josie and Lizzie went home first and after that her mind wandered to Josie. She opened Lizzie’s text and it was like this:  
  
 ** _From: Barbie Saltzman_**  
 _hey, Josie and I went home early. Josie didn’t feel well. MG dropped us off so we won’t be going home with you. say thanks to your aunt for driving us to the dance._

Then there was a second text:

**_From: Barbie Saltzman_ ** **  
** _don’t ask me why it’s me instead of my sister texting you. have a decent weekend, lassie. *dog emoji*_

­Hope sighed, she’s actually going to ask why Josie didn’t text her, but Lizzie has beaten her to the chase. Hope rolled her eyes at Lizzie’s second text. A lot of questions are running through her head. Why didn’t Josie look for her after the fight with Penelope? Why didn’t Josie even tell her that she was going to go home early? Why did she fight with Penelope? Why did Lizzie said Josie’s not feeling well instead of telling her that she got into a fight with Penelope? Why didn’t Josie text her at all?

It was all frustrating for Hope and she rested her head as she rubbed her temple. She wasn’t having a good feeling about this. She needed to know what happened after Penelope and Jed’s almost-fight. Her fear about Penelope hurting Josie was proven to be true. It must be a pretty big fight that Josie did not even bother to look for Hope and went home. Hope swear if Penelope was hurting Josie, she will pay the price and Hope won’t hold back anymore. Now, the only thing left for Hope to do is wait for Josie to tell her what happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did I put too much angst or do you want more? let me know!   
> please do leave your thoughts and comments, i'd love to know what you think about the chapter :)  
> and i hope you enjoyed bits and pieces of the cultural references I slipped here and there.  
> stay safe and healthy guys! see you next week!


	8. the worst thing that I ever did

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened after the dance? Will it be okay between Hosie?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! i was finishing this on 2am, i think this chapter's a bit weird, but well let me know what you think?  
> disclaimer: it's more angstt :))  
> sorry for the weird chapter, i kind hate writing it and i tried my best to make some changes, so I hope you like it. and actually, I might be not updating next week bcs something happened and i might not have the time to write an update for next week. but hey, i will try my best to write an update whenever i can, okay?  
> finally, please enjoy this long-ass chapter ! i was done with breaking up a section into chapters lol but really, i really have an issue with writing a short chapter. sorry :(

**_You heard the rumors from Inez  
You can't believe a word she says  
Most times, but this time it was true  
The worst thing that I ever did  
Was what I did to you_ **

Turned out that Josie did not called Hope that night, Hope sent her several texts but it’s all radio silence from Josie. Hope was tempted to even text Lizzie but she stopped herself because she knew that Lizzie would just roasted her because she worries too much about Josie. So she waited and she must admit that waiting is not one of her forte.

Hope cleaned up and changed her clothes and when she got to her bed, her phone lights up and she snatched her phone as fast as she could, hoping that it was a text from Josie. Turns out it was Landon. Hope frowned and she decided not to answer Landon’s text. He can wait in the morning. Hope groaned frustratedly as she climbed to her bed and pulled her blanket around herself.

Her mind was running with the thoughts of what happened with Josie. What could Josie possibly fight about with Penelope? Last Hope knew, Josie was really excited to spend the whole dance with Penelope. So, what went wrong? Was it because of what happened with Jed?

It wasn’t fair if Penelope was angry with Josie when somebody flirted with Josie, she did not have any control over it! What’s wrong with that girl?! Hope kept recounting the events that happened in her mind but she can’t quite place what could possibly be the reason of why Josie and Penelope fighting. Hope just wanted to be there for Josie, but she failed. Why didn’t Josie come to her?

Questions after questions keep on going through her head until Hope was exhausted and she felt asleep. When she awoke in the morning the first thing she checked was her phone, but still the only message she hasn’t read was from Landon. Hope was sad because Josie didn’t answer her, Josie was an early bird so she must have been awake at this hour but she doesn’t even bother to answer Hope’s texts. Hope sent another text to Josie, wishing that maybe this time she will answer, and then she replied to Landon’s text.

 ** _From: Landon_** **  
**Hey Hope, it’s Landon J

 ** _To: Landon  
_** Hey Landon, of course I know it’s you, I’ve saved your number yesterday, right?

 ** _From: Landon_** **  
**Wow, Hope Mikaelson saved my number. What an honor.

 ** _To: Landon  
_** Ugh, stop it *rolling eyes emoji* So, what’s up?

 ** _From: Landon  
_** Uhm.. I was thinking that maybe we can go get a milkshake on the Grill?

 ** _To: Landon  
_** Like…. A date?

 ** _From: Landon  
_** Well… if you want to call it a date, let’s call it a date. If you don’t want to, that’s okay *OK emoji*

 ** _To: Landon  
_** Ok sure… Is Sunday ok?

 ** _From: Landon  
_** Yes!!! What time should I pick you up?

 ** _To: Landon  
_** Let’s just meet on the Grill at 7. Is that okay?

 ** _From: Landon  
_** Okay! See you! It’s gonna be great! Whoop whoop! *hands clapping emoji*

Hope smiled a bit by Landon’s text, he was using a lot of emojis and it reminded her a little of Josie. Hope reminded herself that she needed to move on. Sure, Josie and Penelope were fighting right now, but what’s the chance that they will broke up? And even if they broke up, will Josie be interested in Hope if Hope asked her on a date? It will be almost impossible.

Some part of the reason why Hope was agreeing to Landon’s date was because the boy was okay and he was nice, talking to him was okay too, he was pretty fun and somewhat Hope could connected with him. Maybe because of the fact that they were orphaned, they could relate on some things. So, why not try to see where it will go with Landon?

And maybe the main reason she agreed to go was to be able to forget her feelings for Josie. Maybe, just maybe, she could have a nice relationship with Landon. Who knows? Hope sighed and she tried to call Josie but it goes straight to voicemail. Hope’s worried about her best friend and maybe she needs to go visit Josie.

Hope changed her clothes and she went to the Grill to pick up mushroom burgers and vanilla milkshake for Josie because she knew that it was Josie’s comfort food. After getting the food, Hope went to Josie’s house. She knocked on the door and nobody answered, she waited for a while and tried calling Josie but still it goes straight to voicemail. Hope knocked once more and the door opened with a very annoyed Lizzie behind it.

“What?!” she snapped.

“Hello, Hope. What brings you here? How nice of you to visit.” Hope said sarcastically.

“You’re disrupting my self-care session. I was supposed to be meditating but someone keeps knocking the door.” Lizzie rolled her eyes.

“Whatever. How’s Josie?” Hope said as she entered the house.

“Whoa, stay.” Lizzie pointed her index finger at Hope as if she was commanding a dog to stay.

“What?!” Hope glared at Lizzie.

“I don’t say that you’re allowed to come in.” Lizzie crossed both of her arms on her chest.

“Ugh, come on, Lizzie. I’m not in the mood for game. I just want to see Josie.” Hope stared intently to the direction of the second floor where Josie room is.

“And I’m also not in the mood for game.” Lizzie answered shortly as she walked and placed herself in front of the staircase.

“Really?!” Hope shakes her head at Lizzie’s behavior.

“Josie told me that she did not want any visitors. She still didn’t feel well.” Lizzie told Hope.

“Oh come on, it’s me. I need to check up on her. Especially I want to know what happened between her and Penelope. Why didn’t she tell me?” Hope asked Lizzie frustratedly.

“Bold of you to assume that my sister wanted to see you.” Lizzie scoffed, “Wait. How did you know about her fight with Madam Satan?”

“It doesn’t matter how I know. Lizzie, please, I need to see if she was okay. She didn’t answer my texts and all of my calls went straight to voicemail.” Hope begged Lizzie.

“Sorry, but I need to respect her wishes. She really makes it clear that she didn’t want to see anybody and it includes you too.” Lizzie answered sternly.

Hope’s face immediately turned glum and she tightened her lips as she handed the paper bag with the burger and milkshake inside. “Can you just give this to Josie, please? I hope she feels better.” Hope asked Lizzie.

Lizzie took the paper bag and she felt a little bit guilty because Hope really looked miserable, she was like a dog walking with its tail between both legs.

“Okay then, I’ll go. Bye.” Hope turned around and walked to the door.

“Wait!” Lizzie exclaimed, “Write her a note.” Lizzie gave Hope a paper and a pen.

Hope took the pen and paper and wrote on it for a while then she folded it and put it inside the paper bag. “Don’t you dare read it.” She threatened Lizzie.

“Ugh, as if I’m a little bit curious of what you wrote on the love note for my sister.” Lizzie replied.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m gonna go. See you on Monday!” Hope said bye to Lizzie.

Halfway to her motorcycle Lizzie shouted, “Hey! What did you brought me? Are the foods all for Josie?”

“I brought you something!” Hope yelled back.

“What? Which one?” Lizzie asked as she looked into the paper bag.

“It’s the paper bag! That’s your diet right?” Hope stucked her tongue out and wore her helmet and turned on her motorcycle.

“Real funny, Mikaelson! Just you wait, I’ll tell Josie not to bake you brownies anymore!” Lizzie shouted in return.

“What?! Can’t hear you!!!” Hope revved her motorcycle engine on purpose. All she can see is Lizzie gesturing her hands up and down and her mouth opened and closed, Hope really got a good laugh because of that and she rode away from the Saltzman’s residence. She just hope that Josie will talk to her soon, she really missed Josie and she can’t wait for Monday because she will surely end Penelope.

* * *

“Special delivery from Scooby Doo!” Lizzie barged into Josie’s room with the paper bag in one hand and her iced coffee in the other.

Josie just glared at Lizzie, not wanting to get up because everything felt terrible. She knew that Hope came but she’s not ready to see Hope and she has asked Lizzie to not let Hope see her.

“Come on Jo, get up! She bought you your favorite, why didn’t you want to see her? You know she was like a kicked puppy when I told her that you didn’t want to see her. At least you owe me an explanation.” Lizzie placed the paper bag on Josie’s bedside and jumped into Josie’s bed. Lizzie pulled Josie out of the blanket and get her to sit up so she can eat, Lizzie knew that her sister couldn’t resist mushroom burger and vanilla milkshake, it’s her favorite comfort food plus Josie was really starving since she skipped breakfast.

Josie just stared at the paper bag sadly, as if the bag was telling her a tragic life story.

“Hey, you’re gonna eat that or no? If you aren’t eating it, I volunteer as a tribute!” Lizzie snatched the paper bag and she pretended to do a salute from the Hunger Games.

Josie grabbed the paper bag back from Lizzie’s hand and she swiftly opened the wrappings and ate the burger without saying anything.

“How rude!” Lizzie feigned a hurt expression. “What should I eat then? How about the fries?” she reached out inside the paper bag to take out the fries but Josie stopped her hands and she took out the fries by herself. And then she said, “Here. It’s for you.” as she threw the paper bag to Lizzie and a smile crept into her face.

“Oh my god! Believe it or not, Hope said the same thing to me! You were a match made in heaven!” Lizzie exclaimed loudly.

“Shut up, Lizzie!” Josie nudged her sister’s shoulder but she chuckled at Lizzie’s demeanor.

Then as Josie ate the burger, they talked about what happened yesterday, Josie told Lizzie what happened with Jed and her fight with Penelope and about Hope dancing with Landon. Lizzie listened intently to Josie’s recounting of yesterday’s event and after Josie finished, Lizzie stayed quiet.

“Hey, Liz. You okay?” Josie asked, she waved her hand in front of Lizzie’s face.

Lizzie still stayed quiet as she stared blankly to the window.

“Earth to Lizzie! Liz Bear! Wizzywee!” Josie called Lizzie with the most embarrassing nicknames, hoping she will get out from the trance she’s in.

“Shhh…” Lizzie put a hand on Josie’s mouth as she still stared at the window.

“Lizzie, are you getting a stroke?” Josie asked cautiously, weirded out by Lizzie’s behavior.

“I’m focusing like Professor X on that scum o the earth and when I got to her mind I will fried it until it gave her a brain aneurysm that she will be a vegetable for the rest of her life.” Lizzie said calmly.

“Liz, it’s okay. It was not that bad actually. I think she was just mad because she felt threatened by Hope. I’ll talk to her at school. She actually got nothing to worry about.” Josie explained to Lizzie.

After spending some amount of time thinking and from what Penelope told her on the fight, Josie made a hypothesis that Penelope lashed out because she felt that she was second to Hope and when Hope got to defend her from Jed first made Penelope snapped.

“No, but that bitch was being selfish! She was lashing out to you because she got a fragile ego!” Lizzie groaned at Josie, she can’t believe how her sister still defended Penelope even though it wasn’t Josie’s fault at all.

“I’ll talk to her okay? I think I’ll try to fix this.” Josie said hesitantly, afraid of Lizzie’s reaction.

“What?! What is wrong with you?! Why?!” Lizzie emphasized on every questions sharply, not understanding what her sister sees in Penelope. “You deserve better, Jo. Clearly there’s someone who will treat you better, much better than this.” Lizzie told Josie softly, not wanting to disappoint her sister more with her disapproval of Penelope.

“I know, Liz. But Penelope’s good, she’s just insecure. I need to fight for this.” Josie told Lizzie with a determination in her voice, convincing herself because Josie knew that she wouldn’t stand a chance with Hope.

Lizzie seems to understand the situation, especially knowing Josie’s previous crush on Hope and the way Josie’s face turned sour when she told her about Hope dancing with Landon. Ah, who the hell is this Landon? Lizzie thought that Hope was also crushing hard on her sister too but turns out that she’s wrong? So Lizzie didn’t say anything more to Josie and just gave her a hug.

“Okay, Jo. It’s up to you, you know your heart and it’s all your call. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.” Lizzie told Josie and she got up from Josie’s bed to go back to her own room. After walking several steps she turned her head because she remembered Hope’s note.

“Hey Jo, Hope left you a note in the paper bag. She’s really worried about you. You gotta talk to her soon, okay?” Lizzie said as she gave Josie a smile.

“Yeah, okay.” Josie answered quietly, “Thanks, Wizzywee.” she smiled mischievously as she called Lizzie by her childhood nickname.

Lizzie only blew her a kiss in return and went back to her room. After Josie was sure that Lizzie was already in her room, she took out the note that Hope wrote her and the note was like this:

_Dear Josie,_

_I hope you’re okay. I heard about the fight. I just want to make sure that you’re not hurt. Please talk to me? I’ll always be here for you. Hope you feel better soon._

_Love, H_

Josie felt her heart full by reading Hope’s note, she really cared about Josie and Josie felt really bad that she didn’t even allow Hope to see her because of her feelings toward Hope. She can’t mess anything up with Hope, her stupid jealousy should not get between her friendship with Hope. It’s too important for that. Josie instantly regretted her past decisions and she promised herself that she will talk to Hope when she got back to school. She just needs this weekend to process everything and compartmentalize her feelings so it won’t be a problem in the future.

* * *

On Monday, Josie left a chocolate bar and a note on Hope’s locker since they didn’t have any class together. She asked Hope to meet her at the music room after Josie finished her orchestra practice.

When Josie was in the middle of her orchestra practice, she can’t concentrate because she was worried that Hope’s might be mad at her because Josie avoided her without any reason last weekend. At last, the practice was over and Josie stayed behind and told Ms. Tig that she will lock up because she needed to work on some pieces. Josie then waited for Hope anxiously as she organized her music sheet and then she heard a knock on the door and Hope was standing there, with a smile on her face and her hair pulled up into a bun. Josie was not sure what to do so she just waved shyly at Hope and motioned her to come inside.

“Got the chocolate. What’s with the note?” Hope greeted her with a question.

“You wrote me a note, so it’s fair that I wrote you one too.” Josie shrugged her shoulders and smiled at Hope.

Hope then threw herself on Josie, engulfing her into w tight hug, Josie can smell Hope’s lemon and mint shampoo clearly and she sighed contently at their hug. “How are you, Jo? I miss you so much.” Hope whispered on her ears.

Josie’s heart beats louder at the contact and she broke their hug and here comes her apology. “I’m fine. Thank you for the burger and shake. It made me feel better.” Josie thanked Hope for the food first, “I’m sorry for shutting you out. There’s just a lot that I have to process and I didn’t feel well too so I didn’t want you to catch anything from me.” Josie told Hope the half-truth.

“Of course that’s okay, Jo. I’m just glad that you’re okay. But now you have to tell me what happened on the dance.” Hope asked Josie with a serious tone.

So Josie told Hope that after what happened with Jed, they went away to calm Penelope down but they ended up fighting.

“What were you fighting about though?” Hope asked confused why Penelope was angry.

“Erm… actually it’s about you.” Josie told Hope embarrassedly as she looked down on her legs.

Hope’s eyes widened with surprise, not ready for the information that Josie gave her, “What? Why me?” she just can responded that way to Josie, still confused on why they were fighting about her.

“Yeah..basically Penelope told me that I was always choosing you. And I think that she might be a bit threatened because you protected me from Jed first rather than her. I’m gonna talk to her and convince her that you’re my best friend and nothing more. I just can’t fight with her.” Josie told Hope in a sad tone.

“Oh.” Hope answered shortly and her expression seems to change for a while but then she smiled at Josie, “What? She told you that? Why did she think that?”

“Yeah, Dana spread a gossip that we were dating because apparently she saw us hanging out at the park.”

“That bitch,” Hope muttered between her teeth. “What can I do to help Jo?”

“Now I’ll just talk to her first okay, we were both at fault. I should’ve been more sensitive to her feelings.”

“Okay then…are you okay now though? “

“I am now that I’ve talked to you,” Josie smiled, “oh, did you do anything exciting last weekend?” Josie tried to change the topic.

“Ah, nothing much. I just went to the Grill with Landon last Sunday.”

“What?! Like a date? With Landon, Raf’s foster brother?” Josie was surprised at the information and she pretended to not remember who Landon was.

“Yeah.. we kinda talked at the dance and we danced together for some amount of time and turns out he was nice and cool. Easy to talk too, we got a lot in common. Then he asked me out on a date, so I thought, why not? He actually kinda sound like Lizzie when he was talking about nerdy things.” Hope told Josie excitedly.

Things around Josie zoned out at this new information and she felt that the monster was waking up again in her stomach and it was roaring, scratching around inside her, trying to get out and it was making her mad but she need to control herself. She has promised herself that whatever happened between Hope and Landon was no longer her business. She needs to be happy of Hope. Plus, she still have Penelope and it was unfair to Penelope if she was still mooning over another girl. So Josie calmed herself down inwardly and put on a smile, “Wow! I’m happy for you!” Josie felt her chest constricted but she pushed through it, “So you’re dating him now?”

“Well.. I don’t know. He’s kind and talking to him is enjoyable too. I might go on more dates with him, see where it leads me. But I got a good feeling about him” Hope smiled. Josie can’t help but smile too seeing Hope’s smile and then without her realizing she offered the most stupid idea she can make just to make sure to Hope that everything’s okay.

“Hey, how about we go on double dates? It will be fun right! It will give a chance for Penelope not to hate you because we were obviously not dating right?”

“You sure Penelope wants to go with us? I’ll ask Landon okay. Yeah, it might be fun Jo. I’m glad you suggest this. I think you will like Landon, he loves music also and I think you got more indie alternative bands to bond over with him. I’m excited” Hope said giddily and Josie forced a smile.

Great, now she has to talk with Penelope and convince her to go on a double date with Hope and Landon. What’s wrong with her brain? Ugh.

* * *

The next day before Josie was able to text Penelope, Penelope showed up at her house and asked her to talk.

“Hey, Jo-Jo. Can we talk?” Penelope appeared at the door bringing a flower and a chocolate bar on her hand.

“Pen! I was just about to text you. Of course we can talk.” Josie smiled at Penelope’s gift as she received it and put it on the table.

“Josie! Who’s that at the door?” Lizzie’s voice was heard from her room.

“Nobody! I’m going out for a walk, bye!!” Josie shouted so her sister can hear as she quickly shoved Penelope outside.

“Sorry,” Josie said embarrassedly, “let’s take a walk. Let’s not talk at home because my sister will kill you if she sees you.” she said apologetically to Penelope.

Penelope laughed it off, “Oh, she might as well try.” And then she walked beside Josie.

“So, I wanted to say sorry for what happened at the dance. It was stupid, what I said was stupid and I wasn’t supposed to treat you that way. You’re not at fault here and I was being a jealous jerk. I’m sorry that I hurt you, Jo-Jo.” Penelope said sincerely, regretting her actions on the dance.

“Yeah… It’s just you didn’t let me explain and you must feel this way because you felt that I was always choosing Hope, It’s just, she’s my best friend and that’s what just best friends do, we spend a lot of time together and we hug each other. Hope’s my best friend and you’re my girlfriend, you’re both two important people in my lives. So please don’t make me choose. I promise that I will spend more time with you, okay?” Josie replied Penelope’s apology with her own apology and explanation.

“Yeah..yeah.. I understand that,” Penelope hesitated as she wanted to say something more but she held back then she just said, “you shouldn’t be apologizing Josie, it isn’t your fault. Please don’t apologize.” Penelope took Josie’s hand in hers.

Josie smiled at the touch and she thought to herself that she actually can see her and Penelope for the near future and maybe they’re good for each other. Josie knew that Penelope sometimes could seems bitchy and rough to people around her, but she was actually kind and caring. Penelope actually reminded her of Hope and Josie quickly put away that thought. It wasn’t fair for Penelope if she kept thinking about Hope when Hope didn’t even want her. So Josie decided from now on that she will try her best to work on her relationship with Penelope and it might actually be a good thing for both of them.

Josie then intertwined her hand with Penelope’s as they walked around Josie’s neighborhood and they talked about the TV shows and movies that they both were watching and maybe this is a good time for Josie to ask Penelope about the double date.

“Pen, I need to ask you something, please hear me out first, if you don’t like it, you can pretend this conversation never happened, okay?” Josie asked worriedly, not knowing how her girlfriend might react.

“Shoot,” Penelope answered Josie, “what is it babe?”

“Yeah so I was talking with Hope and turns out that she’s going on dates with Landon now. Then I stupidly propose that we all go on double dates. It’s just that I wanted to show you that nothing’s happening between me and Hope. And maybe that we can really get along with each other now?” Josie bites her lips, “If you’re not down with it, it’s no big deal. I know that it will be impossible, it’s just a stupid idea in the spur of the moment so you don’t have to say-“

“Yes, let’s go,” Penelope said.

“What?!” Josie exclaimed, she can’t believe her ears.

“Yeah, okay. I said let’s go.” Penelope repeated her answer with a small smile on her lips.

“Whoa, really?! Yeah! I’ll tell Hope! I’m so excited! Thank you Penny!” she gave Penelope a peck on her cheek. Penelope smiled at her softly and put her arms around Josie’s shoulder as they continue walking in silence.

When they arrived back at Josie’s house, Penelope hugged her and kissed Josie’s cheek. “Bye, Jo-Jo. See you at school.”

“Bye Pen, see you…” Josie waved and entered her house. She was happy that the talk went surprisingly well and she promised herself that starting now she won’t let herself think of Hope, the only person she can think about now is only Penelope. Yes, Josie will focus on Penelope, she needs to just focus so the remnants of her feelings for Hope could just go away. And now, Josie kinda regret her stupid actions of doing the double date because she doesn’t even know how she should feel spending time with her best friend or ex-crush, her current girlfriend and the guy she’s kinda jealous of. She closed her eyes and she wished that something will happen before Friday night so that they could just cancel the double date. Turns out Josie was not even a bit ready for all this complicated feelings.

* * *

Unfortunately, nothing happened between the week and the dreaded double date is still on at Friday. Josie sighed loudly as she was choosing an outfit; she just wanted to lay in her bed and not go. It will be super awkward for sure. What the hell she was thinking back then?

Josie sighed again pacing back and forth around her room.

“What are you doing, pacing back and forth like an anxious penguin?” Lizzie stared at her weirdly.

“What? Penguins can’t pace back and forth,” Josie looked back at Lizzie confusingly, “or can they?”

“Whatever. You’re missing the point.” Lizzie waved off Josie’s comment, “So, why are you acting like this? Is it really that miserable going on a date with the she-devil? If it is then why did you make up with her? That’s one of the biggest mystery that’s even weirder than the cases on BuzzFeed’s Unsolved.” Lizzie rolled her eyes.

“Liz. Can you please not insult Penelope?” Josie exhaled exhaustedly because her twin always find some insults for her girlfriend. “Well I am going on a date with Penelope. But it’s also a double date.”

“What?! Double date? Who the hell want to go on a double date with the Wicked Witch of the West?” Lizzie questioned.

“It’s with Hope and Landon.” Josie answered quickly that her sentence sounded like a mumble, but of course, in this case, Lizzie heard everything.

“What the hell?! The hobbit and Mikaelson?” Lizzie was perplexed by the information, “I thought she could do better.” Lizzie shrugged her shoulders.

“Lizzie..must you insult every person that isn’t me?” Josie shake her head at her sister’s remarks.

“Oh no, I will insult you, dear sister. Where did your brain cells go? Is it lost? You are trying to go on double date with the girl you crushed on who’s apparently your best friend and the guy that made you went home early from the dance?” Lizzie widened her eyes in disbelief of her sister’s action.

“Ugh, I know, I know. Spare me your insult please. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking when I suggested that to Hope. So please, don’t judge, okay?” Josie raised her hands in surrender, knowing that her sister will laugh at her situation sooner or later.

Lizzie laughed like a madwoman and then she stopped, “Well, I can’t help you on this. You’re on your own now. Have a good date, dear sister.” Lizzie booped Josie’s nose lightly and stuck her tongue out as she left the room.

“But Liz-“

“Good bye dearest Josette. May the odds ever be in your favor.” Lizzie nodded her head solemnly and she cackled like a maniac as she went down the stairs.

Josie was annoyed at her twin’s reaction, but maybe she deserved it. She decided to just push through it, only for about two or three hours of anguish and she swore to herself that she won’t do something this stupid again. So Josie picked a denim overall and a white sneakers then she put on a light makeup. By 6 p.m., Penelope was at her front door, giving her a hug.

“Hey, ready for the date?” Penelope greeted her, smiling cheekily.

“Ugh, can we just bail?” Josie looked at Penelope miserably.

“No, babe. I’ve reserved the seats; it was pretty hard to get a place there since it’s new.” Penelope was pretty excited to go to the café they will go to. It was a Japanese themed café that just opened two months ago. “And why aren’t you excited? It’s your idea right?”

“Yeah, yeah I know.. but I just thought, wouldn’t it be awkward? I think I was really trying too hard to make you and Hope get along. It was wrong for me. And now there’s another stranger in the mix, I think it will turn out worse.” Josie cringed thinking about how awkward it will be.

“Nah, it will be awkward if you make it awkward babe. It’ll be alright, we’ll have fun okay?” Penelope tried to reassure Josie.

“Ugh okay,” Josie pouted and followed Penelope to her car.

When they arrived at the café they were still on the waiting list so they are waiting on the café’s lounge and about 10 minutes later, Hope and Landon showed up. Josie lighted up at the sight of her best friend, she was wearing a simple white blouse and checkered pants, her auburn hair was let down. Josie can’t help but stare at Hope who looks pretty and she’s reminded again that she was here on a date with Penelope and Hope with Landon.

Hope gave her a hug and for what might be such a long time they let go of each other and Hope introduced her (again) and Penelope to Landon. Penelope was really making an effort, she was making small talk with Hope and Hope does the same. It looks like the both of them are really trying their best to be civil with each other. It actually brings a small smile to Josie’s face. After about 10 more minutes of waiting they were brought to their seats and they started ordering food. They were enjoying talking with each other and Josie even think that Landon was okay. She was sure that Lizzie will really connect with Landon talking about geeky things but she knew that Lizzie will not even be caught dead hanging together with guys talking about geeky things.

The food came and they started eating their respective foods and then Penelope took a sushi from her plate and tried to feed Josie, “Wow, babe. You need to try this, the salmon is so fresh, here.”

Josie hesitated from eating the sushi because she has an allergy of sushi but Penelope doesn’t know about it. She was just trying to do sweet things so Josie gulped and opened her mouth, letting Penelope feeds her.

“Wait! Jo’s allergic to salmon!” Hope blurted when she saw that Penelope was about to feed Josie.

“What? Jo-jo , really?” Penelope dropped her sushi back on her plate and stared at Josie confusedly.

“Uh yeah…” Josie squirmed at the awkwardness that’s starting to seep in.

“Why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve made you sick!” Penelope sounded disappointed.

“No, actually I like the taste of salmon, Pen. Only my body disagreed with it.” Josie frowned because she knew that Penelope was disappointed because she didn’t tell her that she was allergic to sushi.

“It’s okay, Penelope. You didn’t know.” Hope stated and smiled sweetly at Penelope.

Penelope stared back at Hope sharply as she took a deep breath and forced a smile, “Yeah, yeah.” Then she turned her attention back to Josie, “Hey, next time just tell me if you can’t or don’t want to eat something, yeah?”

Josie nodded and smiled then she went back to eating her ramen, the rest of them also continued eating in comfortable silence. Then Landon tried to do the same thing Penelope did, he took out his fork and gave Hope a slice of the wagyu steak he’s eating and placed it on Hope’s plate.

“Here, you’ve got to try the steak, it’s divine!” Landon smiled widely at Hope.

Hope was surprised at the gesture but she smiled back at Landon, “Thank you, Lan.”

Josie felt something stirring in her stomach. She focused on finishing her food not wanting anybody to notice that she’s acting weird. Josie stayed quiet and she only nodded and hummed lightly responding to the conversation at the table between Hope, Penelope and Landon.

After they finished their food, they ordered ice cream as desserts. Josie was almost relieved that the date’s almost done. In front of her, Landon was putting his arm around Hope and whispered something to him and Hope chuckled and blushed at whatever he said. Josie tried her best not to roll her eyes and she tried her best to keep her emotions in check. The date was almost over, she just needed to bear it for a little more time. But it was getting harder since now Hope was leaning her head on Landon’s shoulder. For a person who’s not really comfortable with PDA, Hope surely looked a little too okay with it. Josie felt herself tensed up at what she saw and she was clenching her teeth and controlling her breath and then she felt Penelope’s hands on her.

“Babe, you okay?” she whispered.

“Yeah, just a little stomachache I think,” Josie replied.

“Oh, did you accidentally eat any fish?” she asked worriedly.

“I don’t know, maybe?” Josie answered, not really focused on what Penelope’s asking her because now she’s too distracted at Landon stroking Hope’s hair and Hope giggling, looking so cozy with him.

Josie clenched her right hand, it always help her to calm down since she was small, she’s not the type who got angry easily but when her emotions were disturbed, it’s a bit hard for her to control it and this is one of the way she found effective to calm herself down. So she keeps clenching her right hand until she feels that the blood has stopped flowing to her palm.

Thank god, their ice creams came and they started eating the ice cream and Hope took her ice cream and gave it to Josie.

“Why did you give your ice cream to Josie?” Landon asked confusedly.

“I don’t like raisins so usually Josie eats them first and then I’ll eat after her,” Hope gave Josie a little smile. Hope’s favorite ice cream is rum raisin but she doesn’t like raisins. It was quite funny and Josie really loved raisins so they developed a habit where Josie will eat the raisins from the ice cream first and then Hope will eat the rest.

“I like raisins too,” Landon frowned as he tried to take the raisins from Hope’s glass with a spoon.

“No!” Josie raised her voice a bit and snatched the glass and started picking out the raisin from the ice cream with her spoon, totally focusing herself on finding the raisins on Hope’s ice cream because she’s embarrassed of her sudden outburst.

Fortunately, Penelope didn’t realize anything and she chuckled at Josie’s action and gave her a pinch on the cheek as she said, “Josie was so crazy about raisins that she tried to make some by herself but it failed.”

Josie chuckled awkwardly at Penelope’s statement and she felt that Landon and Hope were eyeing her but she just looked down on Hope’s ice cream glass. After she finished taking out all the raisins she returned the glass to Hope and their hands touched. Josie flinched at the contact and she averted her gaze to Penelope, not wanting to make the situation more awkward.

At last, they finished their date, after they paid the bill, Josie and Penelope said good bye to Hope and Landon. Hope and Penelope hugged awkwardly and Josie tried her best to force down a laugh because it was so hilarious and awkward at the same time. And then Josie offered her hand to Landon and they kinda do a weird fist bump/high five. It can’t get more awkward then this. Josie quickly hugged Hope and said good bye to her so she can just leave the café with Penelope as fast as she can.

As both couples went back to their cars, a waiter stopped Josie, “Excuse me, I think you left this at your table.” The waiter handed Josie a wallet, it was Hope’s wallet.

“Hey Pen, would you mind waiting a while? Hope left her wallet, I’m going to give it back to her.” Josie raised the wallet so Penelope can see it.

“Yeah sure, go ahead. I’ll wait in the care, okay?” Penelope nodded.

Josie sprinted a little to Landon’s car and she saw Landon and Hope almost kissing, their foreheads close to each other, “Uh, Hope, you left your wallet.” Josie said quickly.

Both of them were startled by Josie’s interruption, Hope walked over to her and Josie handed her the wallet. “Okay, bye, sorry for interrupting.” Josie said flatly and she walked back swiftly to Penelope’s car.

It was all rage swirling in Josie’s chest, she felt that she wanted to claw Landon’s eyes out, whoa, that’s a bit gory but she was trying so hard to keep her emotions in check. She can’t deny it, she’s still not completely over Hope yet and seeing her almost kissing Landon only breaks her heart into pieces. It hurts her even though Hope’s not even hers.

* * *

Not long after their double date, Landon asked Hope to be his girlfriend and she of course, said yes. It broke Josie’s heart but she put on a happy face for her best friend. Hope really looked happy and maybe that’s what’s best for her.

One day, she saw Landon with a girl who wasn’t Hope and Josie didn’t even bother to ask Landon about it. It was sinister, what she planned and without any further thinking, Josie went straight to Hope.

“Hey, Hope… I got to tell you something about Landon…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, was it weird guys? and sorry for the cliffhanger... and forgive me for all of the typos and grammatical errors..  
> i hope that you can still enjoy it even though it's kinda bad guys :(  
> i really hope that i can write you an update next week. if i can't, see you in the next two weeks, alright?  
> please leave comments about the chapter and if you have any suggestions, please do tell me!  
> love you guys, appreciate it so much!


	9. would you have me? would you want me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After seeing Landon with another girl, Josie went directly to Hope. Is Landon cheating on Hope? How did Hope reacts?  
> Get ready for another party and drama in this chapter !

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> good day people! it's Thursday and it means another update!  
> turns out that I was able to write this week so here's another long-ass chapter for you guys! i think this chapter is the longest one yet. 8k words. wow. what the hell do I write. lol ! but we were getting to more drama and also you'll get the answer for last week's cliffhanger. please stay tune until the end of this chapter cause i get a surprise for y'all!  
> i hope you guys are satisfied with this chapter. i think a lot of you guys will be excited in what happened this chapter.  
> oh and my work is still unbeta'd, sorry for any typos and weird grammatical errors.   
> so for now, please enjoy some Hosie goodness!

**_But if I just showed up at your party  
Would you have me?  
Would you want me?  
Would you tell me to go fuck myself  
Or lead me to the garden?_ **

“What? You saw him and another girl?!” Hope asked Josie surprised.

“Yes, but I don’t know who’s the girl. Maybe let’s just stay quiet and see what he did next with the girl?” Josie suggested.

“No, I don’t think he’s cheating on me, Landon wouldn’t.” Hope said confidently.

“Hope, you just know this guy for some months and you believed in him that much?” Josie asked in disbelief.

“He wouldn’t Jo. Trust me, I know.” Hope still defend Landon even though now her voice wavered.

“Hey okay, how about this, my friend, Jade goes to Mystic Fall High too. Maybe I can ask her to spy on Landon?” Josie suggested.

“Jade? I never hear about her, who’s she?” Hope asked suspiciously.

“Uh, she hit on me… “ Josie trailed off, “she talked to me at a café and she was really forward with me, we went on a date but it didn’t work so we decided to stay friends.”

“What? Why haven’t I heard about this?” Hope exclaimed in surprise.

“It’s not a big deal, we just went on a date and that’s it,” Josie shrugged.

“Why didn’t it work? Is she some creep or what?” Hope questioned Josie.

“No, she’s actually really kind and charming. It was just I had my eyes set on another girl back then. Jade instantly noticed it so she knew that she has no chance with me.” Josie explained.

“Oh, so when was this? Was it before Penelope?” Hope was particularly nosy about this subject but Josie didn’t understand why.

“Uhm I think it was on freshman year…” Josie scrunched her eyebrows, trying to remember.

“Freshman year?” Hope raised her eyebrow, “We met when you were a freshman, am I right?”

“Uh huh,” Josie nodded.

“So, who were you crushing on back then?” Hope tilted her head to the side.

Josie froze at the question, “Um…nobody. It was a very brief crush.”

“Oh come on, who was it?” Hope nudged Josie playfully.

“As I said, nobody!” Josie blushed as she tried to hide the answer as best as possible from Hope.

“Huh, weird. I don’t know anyone named Nobody in your grade.” Hope smirked.

“Hopeeee!” Josie smacked Hope with a pillow.

“Just tell me, Jo!! I won’t tell the person! Come onnnn!” Hope begged Josie.

“No, Hope, it’s not important. I won’t tell you.” Josie stucked her tongue out, “The more you want to know, the more I will keep my mouth shut.”

“Boo!” Hope blew raspberry toward Josie and threw a pillow to Josie.

When Josie was about to smack Hope back with a pillow her phone rang and she answered it. “Hope, I got to go now, see you tomorrow! Oh and please just keep the thing about Landon quiet for now until I hear back from Jade, okay?” Josie said after she hanged up the phone and she stood up from Hope’s bed.

Hope looked a bit disappointed and Josie thought to herself maybe what she said about Landon surprised Hope and Josie can’t help but feel a bit guilty for what she’s done, she doesn’t even know who the girl is, the only thing she wanted to prove that Landon’s not good enough for Hope. So Josie hugged Hope tightly as she whispered, “Hey it will be okay Hope.”

“Thank you Jo,” Hope whispered back as she hugged Josie, “I love you.”

Josie’s breath hitched at what Hope said and she let go of the hug, her cheeks warm thanks to Hope’s words and she packed up her bags and got out of Hope’s room, “Bye Hope.” Josie waved as she turned around.

Josie knew that Hope didn’t mean anything when she said those words but why does her heart leapt with joy when Hope said it? Now that Hope seems to believe the things Josie said about Landon, it seems that Josie didn’t need to ask Jade about Landon.

Maybe, Josie can just tell a little lie, it’s selfish of her to do this but her conscience is telling her to just find out about Landon. Josie’s so conflicted about her own feelings, in one side she wanted to just let Hope believe that Landon cheated on her but on the other side she felt bad about Landon and she knew if Hope found out she won’t forgive her. Why does everything have to be so complicated?

Josie then pulled out her cellphone and called Jade,

“Hey Jade, do you know Landon Kirby?”

It was after Thursday practice when Josie showed up at the bleachers, waiting for Hope’s practice to be over. She was running a little late from the practice but that’s only because of the big game tomorrow, it will be the last one of this season and the coach was really pushing all of the team so they can give their best for the game tomorrow. Hope was really exhausted but when she saw Josie, it seems that she forget about all of her exhaustion, she smiled brightly at her best friend, “Hey Jo! I thought you went home already. What’s up?” she greeted Josie and tried to hug her.

“Ew, get away Hope, you’re smelly!” Josie pinched her nose.

“Oh really? I think you’re the smelly one,” Hope said as she forced Josie into a hug, they both laughed so hard right now and Josie didn’t even bother to get away from Hope.

“So, what’s up Jo?” Hope asked Josie.

“Um.. it’s about Landon. I think you should cleaned up first and maybe we can talk while we walk back home. Is it okay?” Josie said her face a bit worried.

“Okay, I’ll just get my things from the locker, wait for me.” Hope swiftly ran to the locker room and she jogged back to Josie in a minute.

“Wow, you really do like a dog with a toy when you’re jogging,” Josie examined Hope.

“Oh no, not you too.” Hope rolled her eyes, “I thought you were my best friend,” she pouted.

“I know, I know,” Josie laughed, “I’m sorry, but Lizzie’s remarks has been getting to me.”

“Urgh, just you wait Blondie,” Hope muttered as she turned toward Josie, “okay, so what are you going to tell me?”

Josie didn’t answer Hope and instead she dug into her bag and gave Hope a bottle, “Here, drink this first, I bet you’re thirsty,” it was a bottle of energy drink.

“Oh you don’t know how thirsty I am,” Hope said as she winked toward Josie.

Josie flustered at the innuendo and she blushed, “Oh my god Hope, I don’t mean that. It’s just you’re from your practice and you haven’t drink and you sweat a lot so you lost a lot of bodily fluids and you need your energy back-“

Hope laughed at Josie’s rambling, “I’m just messing with you, Jo. Ah, I remembered the first time we met, you rambled like this too, how nice to see that some things didn’t change.” Hope reminisced their meeting when Hope offered Josie a pen in Biology class.

Josie pouted and crossed her arms together, “Okay then, I won’t tell you anything.” She walked past Hope.

“Hey, Josie! I’m kidding!” Hope ran over to catch up to Josie, “Come on, tell me!” she asked Josie but still chuckling at seeing Josie’s pout.

“Okay, so I heard back from Jade,” Josie informed, her expression turned serious.

“And?” Hope tilted her head a bit, waiting for Josie to continue.

“Landon was pretty close with a girl in his school, her name was Vanessa.” Josie told Hope and she continued, “I also heard that Landon has been bragging about dating you toward the football team because it seems he was trying out for his school team.”

Hope stay silent at Josie’s news and so Josie continued, “I don’t know but it seems that he’s using you? Or maybe he dated you just to throw you off your game, so his school team could win the match next season? Football can get a bit competitive right?”

Hope stared blankly and then she just said weakly, “ I can’t believe it, he wouldn’t do such thing.”

“Oh, Hope, I’m sorry.” Josie engulfed Hope into a hug, “Hey, let’s just focus on your game first, right now, okay? You got a big game tomorrow. I’m sorry for telling you now but I think you should know about this from hearing it from other people, okay?”

“Yeah, thank you Jo for telling me,” Hope said, “I just don’t understand, I thought he liked me?”

“He didn’t deserve you Hope,” Josie said softly as she held Hope’s hands, “you deserved a lot better. So, after tomorrow’s game, you’ll deal with it. But for now, let’s forget it and just focus on the game. Go home, take a hot bath, you deserve it. Then, get a good meal and rest up. You got a big day tomorrow.”

Hope smiled at how Josie cared for her, sure her heart hurts a little hearing about Landon but it didn’t seem to matter because Josie’s here with her, holding her hands and making sure that she prepares herself well for tomorrow’s game. Hope gave Josie another hug when they arrived at Josie’s house, “Okay, I’ll guess I’ll see you tomorrow, Jo. You’ll come to the game right?”

“Of course, Hope. I would never miss it for the world. Get some rest tonight. Good luck for tomorrow!” Josie then left a kiss on Hope’s cheek then she scurried away swiftly inside her house.

“Bye Josie,” Hope whispered, surprised at Josie’s gesture then she walked home with her mind set on tomorrow’s game. She didn’t even have the time to think about Landon, she decided not to reply his texts and just rest up early so she can wake up energized tomorrow. And it seems, Josie’s kiss on her cheek is the only thing she can think about all night.

* * *

They won. It was the last game of the season and they won by 2 points after Hope did a touchdown. It was an intense game and Hope felt that they earned the win, there were cheers all over the field and her teammates were all running toward her and carried her as they keep cheering over the victory.

Hope went down and made sure that she shake hands with all the players of the opposing team to appreciate them for their sportsmanship and it seems that they are taking their loss well. People are patting Hope’s shoulders and they some of them hugged her. It was all a blur and she saw Josie among the crowd, smiling so wide at Hope, her cheeks were painted with Hope’s jersey number and her hair was up into space buns. She looks so adorable and Josie was walking toward her and Hope also was trying to get to her, they were getting closer to each other and then a hand pulled her and suddenly Hope was engulfed into a big hug.

“Congratulations babe! You were so awesome! It was the most intense game I’ve ever seen. Wow!” Landon grinned at her and he lifted Hope in his embrace. Hope was surprised by his appearance and she can’t even processed what’s happening because all of the rush she felt from the game so she just thanked Landon and hugged him back to thank him for coming. Hope didn’t even remember that she had to talk with Landon.

“Hey Lan, Josie’s waiting for me, I was going to her when you showed up, wait here okay,” Hope said as she pulled herself away from Landon’s embrace to look for Josie. But she can’t find Josie anywhere. Josie almost reached her but she’s gone, dammit Landon, why the hell he showed up at a random time. Actually, it was pretty sweet but the fact that he was flirting with another girl made Hope didn’t appreciate his gesture.

People were still congratulating Hope and they were chanting “Mikaelson! Mikaelson!” and Hope smiled and nodded her head in appreciation, she raised her fist and they were all roaring with joy. Hope was still scanning the crowd for Josie and at last she found Josie with her aunts, they were also cheering for her. Hope then excused herself from the people around her and she jogged over to her aunts and Josie.

Hope basically launched herself into Josie and Josie hugged her back tightly, “You’re amazing Hope, congratulations!” Josie squealed in excitement for Hope’s win. Hope absentmindedly lift Josie off the ground and spun her a bit, they were both chuckling and Josie was flushed when Hope released her, they were standing so close and their eyes are locked into each other, grinning widely with joy.

“Ahem,” Freya unabashedly pretends to cough, “don’t your dearest aunts get a hug too?”

“Aunt Freya, Aunt Keelin! I’m so glad you both came!” Hope hugged both of her aunts.

“Of course, littlest wolf. We wouldn’t miss it for anything,” Freya smiled as she placed her hand on Hope’s cheek. Keelin was also beaming with joy and she looked at Hope proudly then she said, “Oh, Hope, don’t you want to lift us off our feet too?”

Both Josie and Hope blushed at Keelin’s remark, Freya then grinned evilly at the both of them, “Guess we’re not special, hon.” she shrugged her shoulders and put one on her arm on Keelin’s shoulder. “Guess our niece came over here just because Josie’s talking with us.” Keelin added, teasing Hope too.

“Stop it, you both!” Hope groaned embarrassedly at her two aunts. Josie stayed quiet and she just smiled shyly at Freya and Keelin’s remarks.

“Oh, by the way Hope, go throw a party for the win, it’s the last game of the season right? You deserved it, invite your teammates, have some fun, it’s a Friday night too!” Freya told Hope.

“What? A party? Where?” Hope asked confusedly at her aunt.

“Of course at our house, silly. We’ve prepared the food and drinks.” Keelin answered as she smiled widely at Hope. “And booze too!” Freya added as if it was the most important thing.

“Freya!” Keelin smacked Freya’s arm lightly at her comment.

“What?! Hope’s been drinking with us ever since she was old enough to ask Klaus to try his ‘special tea’” Freya chuckled, remembering the moment with her brother.

“Yeah, but normal high school kids aren’t legal to drink!” Keelin berated Freya.

“Okay, okay sure. I’ll just cancel the booze order.” Freya frowned at her wife.

“So whipped.” Hope whispered to her aunt’s ear but loud enough for Josie and Keelin to hear.

Keelin laughed at Hope’s action and she said, “Oh, you don’t know how much she loves to be whipped.” She winked at Hope and Josie.

Josie’s face turned red as a tomato and Hope stared at them in horror, “Ew, guys! Too much information, I don’t need to know that!”

Freya and Keelin were laughing very hard at Josie and Hope’s mortified expression and after the laughter died down Freya said, “Okay, so me and Keelin are going to the cabin for the weekend. I trust you to take care of the house okay, have fun tonight at the party but please don’t burn down the house.” Freya said in a serious tone, Hope didn’t know whether she was joking about burning down the house or not.

“Have fun, tell your friends that you’re going to have a party, it’s a well-deserved celebration, it’s okay to celebrate once in a while. So please, go have a party at the house!” Keelin commanded Hope.

Josie chuckled because usually kids their age are sneaking around to throw a party when their parents were out of town but Hope’s aunts are very cool with the whole thing and they even forced Hope to throw the party.

“Okay, okay, geez, I don’t know who’s the teenager here, is it you both or is it me?” Hope stucked her tongue out but she’s grateful for her aunts’ attention toward her.

“Yeah, it seems like we’re taking care of a senile grandma rather than a teenage niece, isn’t it right, Josie?” Freya asked Josie.

“Uh huh, Aunt Freya, just so you know, Grandma Hope doesn’t like to party, she just love a quiet night with her cats and her cross-stitching.” Josie played along with Freya.

Keelin laughed at their conversation and then she gave Hope and Josie a hug and then Freya did the same to them both they said goodbye and left Hope with Josie alone.

“So… are you going to my party?” Hope asked.

“Of course, I will. Why wouldn’t I?”

“But you don’t like parties.”

“I think I can make an exception,” Josie smiled and winked at Hope, “Okay, I’m going to go home first and tell my mom about the party, and is it okay if I slept over at your house tonight?”

Hope smiled softly at Josie, “Of course it’s okay, Jo. You don’t even have to ask.”

“Okay, see you at the party Hope!” Josie gave Hope one last hug and she went home.

* * *

By eight p.m. Hope’s house are packed with a lot of people, she recognized her teammates and people in her grades but she didn’t know the rest, hell they might be coming from Mystic High too for all she knows. Hope started getting antsy because this is the first time having a large group of people in her house. She was going around her house to make sure things are fine. And of course, Kaleb and M.G. bring booze to the party and by 10 p.m. most of the people in the party were either drunk or making out. 

Hope was talking with one of her team mate, Maya, when Josie approached her with a brown-haired girl with a denim jacket.

“Hey Hope, so this is Jade. Jade, Hope.” Josie gestured between the both of them.

Jade offered her hand first to Hope, “Hey, so this is the famous Hope Mikaelson,” she smirked.

Hope shaked Jade’s hand, “Nice to meet you, Jade.” She smiled as she raised her eyebrow at Josie.

“Likewise. Nice house, by the way.” Jade said as she gestured to Hope’s whole house.

“Thanks,” Hope answered politely and then Josie said, “Jade got something about Landon by the way.” Hope suddenly tensed up.

“Um, okay, I’ll just be blunt, don’t kill the messenger okay?” she said trying to make the situation less tense.

“Just tell me what you got,” Hope said, preparing herself for the worst. Josie was looking at her with concern and she took Hope’s hand in hers.

“Yeah, okay. So Josie was asking me about Landon and if he’s close to any girl at school. There was this new girl who recently got close with Landon, she just moved to our school last term. Her name’s Vanessa, I don’t know what’s their deal but I can say they’re pretty close.” Jade informed Hope.

“Oh. Well, I don’t know. It might just be his close friend, right?” Hope asked Josie, her eyes worried. Josie squeezed Hope’s hand and nodded sympathetically at Hope.

Jade then continued, “That’s not all. I actually caught them kissing this morning.”

Hope’s face was emotionless but Josie can see the hurt in her eyes, her lips was pursed tight and Josie can feel her grip tightened on hers. Josie can only rubbed soothing pattern in Hope’s hand to calm her down. 

Hope then said calmly to Jade, “Thanks, Jade.”

“No problem, I’m sorry to be the one who break the news to you. I’ll leave you with Josie.” Jade then walked over to the guys who were playing beer pong.

“Hope, are you okay?” Josie asked Hope worriedly.

“I’m fine.” Hope closed her eyes and took a deep breath in order to calm herself.

“I’m sorry, Hope. I thought he was better than that.” Josie told Hope as she pulled her into a hug.

“I trusted him too much, Jo. I was stupid.” Hope gritted her teeth as Josie was rubbing her back to calm Hope down.

“No, Hope. None of this is your fault. Just take some time and think what you’re going to do next.” Josie advised her.

When they pulled apart from the hug, Hope noticed a glimpse of black, curly hair. It was Landon, he was with Rafael and there was a girl with them too. Is that the girl Jade was telling her about? The girl was smiling at what Landon said and then the three of them laughed together. Hope can’t stand it, how dare Landon showed up at her house, her party, with the girl he was cheating Hope with? Hope marched furiously toward Landon and before Josie could stop her she has grabbed Landon and dragged him outside.

“Hey, babe.” Landon tried to hug Hope.

“Get your hands off me!” Hope pushed Landon away.

“What the heck? What’s going on Hope?” Landon asked confusedly.

“Don’t act stupid, Landon!” Hope yelled at him.

Landon eyes widen in surprise at Hope’s demeanor, “I really don’t understand what’s going on. You were the one who dragged me outside and yelled at me!” Landon’s voice started to rise.

“Wow. Just drop the act, please.” Hope shakes her head in disbelief at Landon’s reaction.

“Seriously, I don’t understand what’s going on!” Landon snapped.

“You want to know what’s going on?! What’s going on is I have to applaud you for the nerve to bring the girl you cheated on me with to my party!” Hope furiously yelled as she pointed out toward the house.

“What girl? Cheated on? What kind of joke is this?!” Landon was surprised at Hope’s accusation.

“The girl you were talking with before. Just tell me if you want to break up with me, you don’t need to cheat on me.” Hope said bitterly.

“Wait- wait. Who told you that?” Landon asked suspiciously.

“It doesn’t matter.” Hope said, she didn’t want to involve Josie into this.

“I swear she’s my friend, Hope. We were once on the same foster house.” Landon tried to explain to Hope.

“Oh, your friend? Who you were so close with?” Hope scoffed at Landon’s lame explanation.

“Don’t say that! I can say the same for you and Josie!” Landon pointed his hand at Hope.

“What?! Don’t you dare bring Josie into this!” Hope warned Landon sharply.

Landon was taken aback at Hope’s tone because she never talked to Landon this way but he continued, “Okay. But can you please trust me? She’s only a friend, I swear to you.”

“A friend whom you kiss?!” Hope screamed in pure anger at Landon, “Do you think I’m stupid??”

Landon was petrified at Hope’s outburst and he froze in his place, “You got anything to say to me now?!” Hope snapped with rage at him.

“Hope, I can explain. Please, can you calm down first and-“

“Don’t tell me to calm down!!” Hope fumed at her boyfriend for telling her to calm down.

“Okay, okay! Just hear me out, okay? Let me explain. Please?” Landon tried to lower his tone so they were not caught up with their emotions further, he held out both of his hands in surrender.

Hope evened out her breath and look at Landon with ire, “Speak.” she spitted out the word like venom.

“Vanessa is my first good friend from a foster house, we stood up for each other and I met her before I met Rafael. We stayed on the foster house for a year but it was enough for us to bond and protect each other against our abusive foster parents. After a year we split up and we never see each other again. Then I found out that she moved to Mystic High, we started to reconnect and it turns out we become good friends. That’s why we’re so close with each other. It’s just like what I had with Raf. We both went through pretty dark times and now we’re just happy that we can see each other again.” Landon explained lengthily.

Hope stared at Landon coldly, “That still doesn’t explain the kiss.”

Landon cowered a bit and he confessed, “Yeah, we kissed but she kissed me first, I was surprised.”

“Then you kissed her back?” Hope asked flatly her face expressionless.

Landon only hung his head down as an answer and Hope knew that the jerk was also enjoying the kiss.

“You jerk!” Hope spitted the words with hatred, she was so done with Landon.

“But I pushed her away!” Landon tried to defend himself as he tried to hold Hope’s hands, “Hope, please forgive me. I told her that I have a girlfriend. She just caught me in surprise. I swear to you it won’t happen anymore.” Landon begged him.

“Save it!” Hope slapped Landon’s hands, “It’s true then! You’re just dating me for your own benefit, I heard you get quite the reputation because you were dating me! You’re just pathetic!”

Landon snapped at Hope’s words and he retaliated, “You want to know why I kissed her back?! Because it seems that you never want to kiss me! So, a part of this is your fault! But let me tell you this, I never brag about you to anybody at school, I know that you hate it! Yes, it’s true, me and Vanessa kissed but the rest of things you were saying to me are lies! Why don’t you trust me enough to ask me about it first rather than jumping into conclusions?!”

“So it’s my fault now?! I really can’t believe you! You know what, I’ve heard enough rumors to know that you were cheating on me!”

“And I can’t believe you for trusting who spread those rumors to you more than you trust me! Please believe me when I said all the rumors you’ve heard were wrong, the only thing that you’re right of accusing me is kissing Vanessa. I’m sorry and I regret it okay?”

“Wait. So you, bragging about me to the football team in Mystic High were not true? And how about when you were at the park, are you cheating on me with her?”

“No! I’d never do that to you. I didn’t do any of it. Me and Vanessa never went on a date.”

Hope felt like somebody dumped cold water all over her body, she thought about what she heard about Landon and it was Josie who told her. The only thing she heard from Jade about Landon was the one where he was kissing Vanessa and it checked out to be true. But the rest of it, Hope didn’t hear it directly from Jade. And her heart dropped when she realized that Josie, her best friend, was the one who lied to her.

“ I need to go,” Hope said agitatedly and she went back inside her house to look for Josie. Why did she lie about Landon to her? Was she trying to sabotage their relationship? Questions were swerving in Hope’s mind and she needed to know why her best friend acted that way. Hope trusted Josie a lot and this was a punch to the gut. Hope scanned her house for Josie but she didn’t find any sign of the brunette. She took a bottle of half-full vodka and she started chugging it into her mouth while still trying to search the house for Josie. Hope then noticed Josie in the kitchen with Penelope, Jade and some people Hope didn’t know. Hope made her way through the kitchen and she grasped Josie’s hand, “We need to talk.” She didn’t wait for Josie to answer and start dragging her to the garden, away from the crowds.

“Hope, what’s wrong? Did you talk to Landon?” Josie asked concernedly.

“Don’t!” Hope raised her hand to warn Josie, her eyes full of anger and hurt at the same time.

Josie stayed quiet, she never see this side of Hope, Josie tried to say something but she can’t find the right words to say to Hope.

“Why, Jo?” Hope asked with a tinge of sadness in her voice.

“I-I’m sorry, Hope. I didn’t mean to.” Josie stuttered a bit, afraid of her best friend.

“I trusted you, Jo!” Hope raised her voice and it was shaky as she tried to control her emotions, she didn’t want to say anything she might regret toward the younger girl.

Josie’s eyes started to water and she was biting down her lips, the guilt look really apparent on her. Hope can tell that it was all true, Josie did it, she lied to Hope, she was spreading the rumors about Landon. Before Josie can answer, Lizzie and M.G. approached them both and Lizzie yelled annoyingly, “Hey lovebirds! Stop doing monologues in the middle of a garden, you both aren’t Dani and Jaime from Bly Manor!”

M.G. laughed and he high-fived Lizzie at the reference she made, both of them obviously not realizing the situation between Hope and Josie. Josie quickly wiped her eyes and Hope took a deep breath before Lizzie and M.G. realized that they were fighting.

“Come on, dorks! We’re going to play Truth or Dare!” Lizzie exclaimed.

Both Josie and Hope stayed quiet because they were high on emotions but they have no choice to play along, not wanting to make a scene. So they let M.G. and Lizzie led them inside to play with the remaining people at the party.

“It’s gonna be fun!!” M.G. shouted with a grin when they stepped inside the house. “Come on guys, gather round! Let’s start this!”

Kaleb hand him a bottle and M.G. started explaining the rules, “Okay, so we just spin the bottle and the person who was pointed by the bottle need to choose Truth or Dare. Simple, right? Okay, as a host, I’ll start!” M.G. then spun the bottle in the middle of the circle and it pointed to Rafael, “Okay, dude. Truth or dare?”.

“Ah, what the hell, dare!!” Rafael declared and the others cheered.

“Okay, we will be making a drink mixed with 5 different ingredients and I dare you to drink it!” M.G. announced like a professional emcee.

“Consider it done!” Rafael do a fist-pump toward the air and the rest of the group cheered again while M.G., Kaleb and Jed are busy discussing what to mix in Rafael’s drink. The game kept going on and there were weird dares and also shocking confession of truths involved. Hope was downing any drinks she can get her hands on and Josie was quiet for the whole game. It was then Kaleb’s turn to spin the bottle after he did a dare of prank-calling their principal and the group got a good laugh because it was too hilarious and Kaleb started doing Harry Potter impressions and quotes on the phone and the group gone wild. After the craziness died down, Kaleb spun the bottle and it pointed toward Hope.

“Okay, Captain Mikaelson! Our hero today! Truth or dare?” Kaleb challenged her.

“Truth! Cause I don’t like liars!” Hope blurted out and she saw Josie cringed a little when she said her last sentence.

“Whoa, okay! Truth it is!” Kaleb laughed as he tried to think of a question for Hope, after some time of thinking he exclaimed, “Oh! I got a good one!”

Everybody was leaning in, excited to hear Kaleb’s question, “If you could ask a person in this room to kiss you, who would you ask?”

“Wow. Tough one.” Hope answered, pretending to scrunch her eyebrows in conflict. Everybody was paying attention to her silently, waiting for her answer, they were anticipating Hope’s answer eagerly, “ Heck, I won’t ask them to kiss me but I’d kiss my whole team for winning the championship!” Hope raised her bottle of scotch in her right hand and cheered.

The group burst in a cheer and Kaleb was shaking his head at Hope, “You’re not answering the question, girl. I said a person, Hope. Not people.” He chuckled, clearly still pushing Hope to answer.

“Okay, okay” Hope raised her hand in surrender and then a mischievous smile formed on her lips as she turned her head to her right looking straight at Lizzie, “I’ll ask Lizzie to kiss me.” Hope stated, trying to keep her face as straight possible.

And the look of horror in Lizzie’s face was enough to make Hope keel over because it was hilarious and the whole group also laughed at them both. Lizzie looked like she got a brain aneurysm and everybody was clapping their hands and roaring over how ridiculous Hope’s statement is because they know that Hope and Lizzie was not really the best of friends, more like frenemy.

Kaleb stared at Hope in disbelief and he looked like he was not satisfied with the answer but before he can open his mouth again, Hope raised one of her eyebrow, “What? I answered the question right?”

“Yeah, whatever you said.” Kaleb conceded and gestured Hope to go on with the game.

Hope put her hand on the bottle and she saw Josie across her, she was full on frowning right now and it was not a good look on her, she sat back and it looks like she was trying to hide herself between Rafael and Penelope. Hope looked at Josie in the eyes as she spun the bottle and Josie broke their eye contact quickly as she nudged Rafael and whispered something in his ear. Penelope’s hand is on Josie’s waist as if she was claiming her and it seems to fuel the rage inside Hope. Hope just realized as she looked around the group that Landon was gone from the party with Vanessa. If that was not cheating, Hope wouldn’t know what to call it anymore.

The bottle spun quickly and it got slower and slower and slower until it pointed to Josie and Hope noticed that she was trying to move away from the bottle, terrified of what Hope will ask her to do.

“Truth or dare?” Hope asked her curtly as she ran her hand through her auburn hair.

Josie stayed quiet for a moment and then she replied, “Dare.’

“Okay, I dare you to choose truth.” Hope said giving Josie a sly smile.

“No, it doesn’t work that way, you can’t do that!” Josie argued at Hope’s dare for her.

“Whoa, chill babe. Just choose truth.” Penelope encouraged her girlfriend to continue the game.

“Yeah, Jo. Truth is so much easier than dare. Is it that hard for you to tell the truth?” Hope asked innocently but Josie knew she was being passive aggressive about their fight.

Josie felt her sweat rolling down on her forehead, suddenly things seems to be closing in on her and she just can’t deal with this. Hope was taunting her about the rumors she spread, Josie felt very guilty about it and she doesn’t even know the length Hope will go to just to make her feel worse.

“Uh, sorry! I got to take this call!” Josie abruptly stood up from her place, “It’s my mom, it might be an emergency!” she quickly scurried outside, not caring about the groups’ reaction that was booing her for bailing on her dare. Josie needs to be away from Hope right now, she took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, trying to keep herself calm. She really fucked up on this, Hope will hate her and Josie wasn’t even sure that she could come clean to Hope about the reason why she did such things to Landon. Hope will never forgive her. Josie furiously wiped hot tears that are starting to stream. She sat down on the porch and tried to clear her head, she needed a legit explanation for Hope and it was all a mess, she needed to fix this.

After a while of sitting outside Josie heard the door opened and she held her breath, she wasn’t ready if it was Hope who came outside. Turns out it was Lizzie, she approached Josie.

“Hey, there you are,” Lizzie sat down beside Josie, “you okay, Jo?” she asked, putting her arm around Josie’s shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah.” Josie nodded quietly.

“So, what did Mom say?” Lizzie questioned her.

“Huh, sorry?” Josie tilted her head in confusion.

“You said mom called right, that’s why you go outside?” Lizzie made sure.

“Oh,” Josie just remembered the excuse she made and she was thinking hard of what to say to Lizzie.

“Chill, dearest sister, I know there’s no phone call.” Lizzie smiled with understanding.

“Sorry, just got to get out of there,” Josie apologized.

“Duh, I noticed.” Lizzie rolled her eyes, “Wanna tell me what happened?”

“It’s a long story but basically I lied to Hope and she found out and now she’s mad.” Josie averted her eyes from Lizzie’s stare.

“Oh, so that’s why you were staring at each other intensely when M.G. and I found you in the garden,” Lizzie concluded as she nodded her head in realization.

“Yeah, she’s so mad, Liz. I’ve never seen her like this. I’m scared.” Josie buried her face in her hands.

Lizzie stroked her twin’s hair, “Hey, just talk it out with her, I’m sure that she will forgive you.” she encouraged her twin.

“I don’t know,” Josie said weakly, “I feel really bad for lying to her.”

“Just explain to her what you could and I’m sure she won’t stay mad at you. Trust me. And if she stay mad at you, I’ll kick her ass, okay? Everybody makes mistake and it applies to you too, Jo. Don’t be hard on yourself.” Lizzie patted Josie’s arms.

“Okay, I’ll try.” Josie agreed on her sister’s advice, “Oh Liz, I actually told Hope that I was going to stay overnight. I’ll talk to her and if she’s still mad at me can you please pick me up? But if we can fix this, I’ll stay over.”

“Of course, whatever you need. I’m going to head back first with M.G., everyone inside was mostly drunk and I think they’re going home. So, just text me if you need anything, okay?” Lizzie smiled sincerely.

“Okay, bye Lizzie. I guess it’s time for me to head inside.” Josie stood up and exhaled.

“Good luck, Jo!” she winked at her sister.

Josie then braced herself for her talk with Hope, when she entered the house, people were doing the opposite, they were going home and they started to clear out of the house. Josie then passed Penelope, “Babe, I’ll drive you home?” she asked.

“Um, I had promise Hope that I’ll sleep over here, it’s been a while since we had one.” Josie said as fast as she can, not wanting her girlfriend to make a big deal out of it.

Penelope’s face tensed up but then she said, “Oh okay, bye then.” She hugged Josie and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Josie then kept walking and looked for Hope, she passed some of her friends and she said bye to them first and after some time, it was only her and Hope left. Hope was cleaning up the paper cups and the bottles of booze dumping it all into a big plastic bag and once in a while she drank from a bottle. She didn’t seem to notice Josie’s presence.

Josie then stood up awkwardly and took a swig from an almost empty vodka bottle and finished it. She needed the courage to talk to Hope. After downing the drink, she approached Hope.

“Hey, need some help?” she asked cautiously to the older girl.

Hope flinched a bit, surprised that Josie was still there because she thought Josie went home, “Sure.” She replied coldly.

Josie then took a plastic bag and started cleaning up too, she picked up all the trash quietly and she was anxious of what she’s going to say to Hope, every time she opened her mouth, she just can’t think of what to say. Hope also looked at Josie once in a while, but she kept her mouth shut, she can’t believe what Josie did. Josie felt her cheeks heat up, uh oh, the vodka must be stronger than she thought. Josie decided to just speak now and she saw a bottle of whiskey and took a sip, “Hope, I am so sorry. I regretted it, I don’t mean to hurt you, or Landon. I know that I broke your trust and I deserved it. But please just don’t shut me out.” Josie at last spoke.

Hope set down the trash bag and the bottle of scotch she’s holding on the table. “Why?” she asked Josie.

“I-I,” Josie tried so hard to tell Hope but she can’t seem to get the real reason out.

“Tell me why should I forgive you when you can’t even tell me the reason.” Hope said sharply.

Josie exhaled hopelessly, she can’t do this, both her and Hope is in a relationship and her reason will make things complicated. “I just can tell you I’m sorry, Hope. I messed up. That’s okay if you hate me. I just want you to know that I’m truly sorry. I’ll just go home.” Josie huffed, feeling a bit hot and she knew that the alcohol are already spreading in her system as she felt herself swerving as she was tying the trash bag. She turned around and took her bag on the sofa then she pulled out her phone to call Lizzie.

Suddenly Hope was in front of her, “So you’re just gonna go home?”

“Yeah, I know you don’t want me here.” Josie answered with a small voice.

“Wow. You’re just gonna run away from this conversation? You can’t even tell me why you lied to me and you’re going to leave? What a coward.” Hope said, her words are like poison. Josie’s heart hurt a bit when Hope spoke to her this way but she knew she deserve it.

“Yeah, I guess I am,” Josie frowned and shrugged her shoulders.

She started dialing Lizzie’s number when Hope took the cellphone out of her hands. “Hey!” Josie exclaimed in a surprise.

Hope stared at her with disappointment, “Why won’t you tell me? I’m not letting you go home until you tell me why. Why are you trying to jeopardize my relationship?” she pushed Josie to tell her.

“Guess I’m not going home then,” Josie suddenly felt braver and she plopped herself into the sofa.

Hope was clearly frustrated, she ran her hand through her hair and grabbed her bottle of scotch and took a gulp. “What the hell’s wrong with you Jo?” she stood in front of Josie taking a deep breath. And then her expression changed as if she’s realized something, “Wait. I think I know why you did this.”

“Why?” Josie asked, not caring anymore if Hope guessed correctly, seems like the booze has clouded her mind from any fears and reasons.

“You like Landon, don’t you? You’re trying to get him away from me?” Hope accused.

Josie burst out laughing at Hope’s guess and she can’t believe that Hope even thought that. “Sure, if that’s what you think. Yup, I like Landon.” She said sarcastically at Hope for even thinking that she would do that to Hope because she likes Landon.

“What? Isn’t it right? I always notice that you were always eyeing me whenever I’m with him and on our double date I felt that something was up. If you like him, go for it. I don’t even think that he’s interested in me anymore.” Hope said bitterly. She actually didn’t care that Landon kissed another girl just this morning, the thing that was bothering her was Josie’s lie. Hope was more hurt with Josie’s lie rather than Landon’s betrayal. And now, the fact that Josie liked Landon just fuck with her head even more.

Josie was surprised that Hope didn’t get her sarcasm, wow, Hope really thought that she really likes Landon. “Hope, did you think that I’d do that to you? You think that I really like Landon?” Josie asked Hope just to make sure that Hope really thought it was serious.

“I don’t know what to think anymore. There wasn’t any apparent reason on why’d you do it and you won’t even tell me why. And you chose to lie to me; I thought we trusted each other Jo.” Hope said as she took another swig from the bottle. She then continued, “Of course, I was the stupid one, I don’t understand you, Jo. I thought I knew you but I felt like I don’t know you anymore. I just want to know the reason, is it that hard for you to tell me? Or was it satisfying, laughing behind my back of my naivety and-“

“I like you, Hope.” Josie cut of Hope’s words, her eyes looking straightly at Hope’s blue eyes.

Hope stopped talking and she stared at Josie blankly, “What?”

“Yeah. I like you. I know I shouldn’t even say this because I’m still with Penelope but I like you. Hell, I might think that I’m falling for you but I know that you won’t like me back. That’s just okay, that’s why I dated Penelope, I know that you won’t ever see me as anything more than friend.” Josie’s voice broke a little and her heart pounded so hard because she knew that there’s no going back after this. “I was jealous of you and Landon. That’s why I spread the rumor. It hurts me to see you with him. I was actually jealous of him. Not you.” Josie confessed everything.

Hope blinked her eyes, trying to process what Josie said and she was speechless. “I know I’m making things complicated between us but I guess you should know.” Josie said weakly and she took her phone from Hope’s hand and dialed Lizzie.

Hope was still staring at her intently and then she spoke, “You remember that I can ask you anything in return of me going to the dance with you?”

Josie was confused at where Hope’s going with the question but she nodded her head as she was hearing the dial tone on her phone.

“Stay.” Hope said sternly, her eyes determined. The call went to voicemail and Hope said quietly, “Liz, I’m staying over at Hope’s. See you tomorrow. Love you.” and then she hanged up.

“Okay.” Josie nodded softly, they both fell into a silence and Josie can felt Hope’s gaze burning at her, Josie was flustered, it was getting hotter and she knew that her face must be very flushed right now because of the drink.

“Finish the game of truth and dare with me.” Hope commanded her as she sat on the sofa, they were sitting closely with each other.

Josie can only nodded again at Hope’s request, it’s a promise she needed to fulfill, that’s only fair.

“Truth or dare?” Hope asked, her voice a bit hoarse.

“Uh, dare?” Josie played along, she didn’t care anymore about whatever dare Hope had for her, it was only the two of them, if she embarrassed herself at least it was only in front of Hope.

Hope paused and she took a gulp again from her bottle and she looked Josie dead in the eyes, “ I dare you to kiss me.”

Josie gulped and her eyes widened in surprise at Hope’s request. She was waiting for Hope to laugh and tell her it was a joke. “A-are you serious?” she stuttered and she felt that the temperature was getting hotter and hotter by the second.

Hope inched herself closer to Josie, putting her face close to Josie’s, “A dare’s a dare,” she said in a low voice, “or are you going to run out again?” she raised her eyebrow slightly at Josie.

Josie felt herself unconsciously moved closer toward Hope too and find their noses touching with each other and she can feel the hot puffs from Hope’s breath on her lips. “Just say no if you don’t want to do this, I understand.” Hope whispered below her mouth and Josie shuddered at Hope’s word.

She didn’t know if it was the alcohol that made her thoughts hazy, or if it was the emotions that was unresolved between her and Hope but she just can’t think clearly anymore, Josie put her hand on Hope’s cheek and pressed her lip softly on Hope’s as she closed her eyes and Hope kissed her back tenderly and after what it felt like a lifetime, they broke apart, still keeping their foreheads close.

Josie licked her lips and tasted the scotch from Hope’s lips and she smiled shyly. Hope was sighing contently at their close contact, her breath ragged, still out of air from the kiss. Josie then felt that things around her were lighter and lighter but her eyes were heavy. She felt a buzzing in her head as she can still feel the ghost of Hope’s lips on hers and then everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sooooo..... how was it? are you guys excited on what's coming next??   
> thank you for those who read and left kudos and comments. i love all of your comments and i love making new friends in this Hosie ship with you guys! please please please tell me what you think about the chapter? hope i don't bore you with this long chapter, you guys know my problem with writing too much Hosie content :p  
> oh and i was hoping to make a hosie secret santa exchange for Christmas, so if you're interested, hit me up!  
> feel free to reach out through message or you can find me on tumblr @hackingxbiochemist, just message me. i would like to get to know you all more :D  
> until then, see you next week on the next update!


	10. would you trust me if I told you it was just a summer thing?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the morning after their kiss, will they remember what happened?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Thursday and it means it's another update! thankful for those of you who are still here, following my fic. please enjoy this update! i'm just going to keep it short and let me say there will be fluff at last for Hosie! so enjoy it while it lasts ;) and last but not least, happy reading <3

**_In the garden would you trust me_  
If I told you it was just a summer thing?  
I'm only seventeen  
I don't know anything but I know I miss you**

Josie woke up with a loud throbbing in her head and she felt very tired, the bed was so comfortable and warm and she nudged closer to her blanket, inhaling a familiar scent and then she felt her blanket shifted. Wait, blankets do not shift. Josie tried to open her eyes but her eyelids were heavy and she noticed all she can see was auburn locks; that’s when she jolted awake. All the events last night were rushing back to her head like a train wreck, Josie recalled her fight with Hope, she was really mad at Josie because of the lie she spread about Landon. 

Josie stared at her best friend’s face that was so close to her and it brought her back to their kiss last night. Oh god, they did kiss. How could Josie forget it, she remembered it vividly even though she knew she was under the influence of alcohol. But she could recount every moment, no amount of alcohol is going to able to make her forget about their kiss. However, the one thing’s Josie sure of was she blacked out after their kiss because she can’t seem to recall why she ended up in Hope’s bed; they were at the living room last Josie remember.

Josie absentmindedly licked her lips as she remembered her kiss with Hope and she was really tempted to brush strands of hair that was falling into the older girl’s face. Hope was still peacefully sleeping while Josie was internally panicking. They both still have boyfriend and girlfriend. No, what should she tell Penelope? Josie can’t say that she didn’t enjoy it but she felt guilty. Now her feelings for Hope seems to multiply and incontrollable because of the kiss.

It was her first kiss. It was actually her first damn kiss. Wow. She’s been dreaming about it with Hope and she didn’t even think it will come true. All these times with Penelope, they only kissed each other cheeks and foreheads. Penelope knew that Josie was shy and they decided to take it slow, they almost kissed several times but there were just things that interrupted them such as Lizzie’s magical appearance on the porch. Yeah, Josie was actually nervous about her first kiss with Penelope and she was kinda relieved that they got interrupted several times because she was afraid that she won’t be a good kisser and Penelope had a lot more experiences than her already. And the worse thing was, Penelope was really understanding and patient about all these things, she didn’t force Josie to kiss her. Now, Josie has had her first kiss and it wasn’t with Penelope. How would Penelope felt when she knew about this? It’s settled then. Penelope could never know about the kiss.

Josie felt really guilty but on the other side she can’t help being very giddy and ecstatic with the kiss. Hope’s lips was so soft against hers and kissing Hope is more satisfying than Josie expected. She smiled as she saw Hope holding her, still deep in her sleep, she was so pretty and Josie’s heart ached when she remembered that Hope was not hers and at the same time she thought about Penelope again. Dammit. Josie pouted at the thought of her girlfriend. She doesn’t want to make anything complicated and she doesn’t want to ruin any relationships. Hell, Josie didn’t even know whether Hope remembered what happened last night or not, she drank quite a lot yesterday.

And as if Hope was sensing that Josie’s thinking of her, she stirred awake and pulled Josie closer in her arms. Josie’s heart was beating very loudly in this position, sure she often hug with Hope and they often ended in this kind of position in the morning whenever they have their sleepovers, but this felt different. Hope slowly opened her eyes and she tried very hard to keep her eyes open. Yup, she must be having a hangover too, Josie thought to herself.

“Morning.” Hope said as she yawned and smiled sleepily at Josie.

“Morning,” Josie replied with a smile, “how are you feeling?”

“Like my head’s going to literally explode anytime.” Hope said as she groaned and massaged her temples.

“I think you’re having worse hangover than me,” Josie teased, “don’t worry, I’m having one too, thank God your aunts are not home. If they were, I think they were never going to stop talking about this.”

Hope chuckled then she groaned again, “Urgh, my head hurts even when I laugh. I’m a mess. How come you stay pretty even in your hangover? It’s not fair.”

Josie slightly blushed at Hope’s remark, she called Josie pretty. Okay, chill Josie, you both called each other pretty all the time, why does this have to be different? While Josie was lost in her thought, Hope was staring longingly at her but then she stopped staring when Josie made eye contact with her.

“What?” Josie asked her best friend.

“What?” Hope just mirrored Josie because she was surprised by the girl’s question.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” Josie questioned.

“Like what?” Hope raised her eyebrow.

“I don’t know,” Josie shrugged her shoulders, “anyway, what time is it?” she changed the subject.

Hope exhaled in relief at Josie’s question, “Wait, let me check my phone.” She rolled over to reach for her phone on the nightstand, “It’s 11. We didn’t wake up as late as I thought though.” Hope informed Josie.

“It’s pretty late. Come on let’s go downstairs, let me whip up some breakfast.” Josie said as she rolled off the bed but Hope pulled her back to the bed.

“Can’t we just stay here for the day?” she pouted at Josie.

Josie chuckled fondly at Hope’s expression and she swear that her heart was skipping a beat, if this was how it felt to date Hope, she just wanted to stay here and not get out to the real world. She could and would like to stay this way forever with Hope. But Josie knew, this was not a movie, she didn’t even know if Hope remembered their kiss last night.

“If we’re staying here all the day long, how could we get food? I heard your stomach practically growling for food, you know.” Josie stuck her tongue out and got out the bed as fast as she can to prevent Hope from pulling her back down to the bed again.

“Noooo! Don’t leaveee!” Hope whined exaggeratedly.

Josie mischievously opened her phone’s camera and start to record Hope, “Exhibit A: Baby Hope whining for food because she is hungwwy.” Josie pretended to sound like a baby and then she quickly stopped recording and put her phone on her pocket before Hope can processed what’s happening.

Josie sprinted out of Hope’s room as she shouted, “Get out of the bed or else the video goes to Aunt Freya and Aunt Keelin!” and she laughed adoringly remembering Hope’s whiny expression. When she got downstairs, Josie was actually surprised that the house was partially cleaned. It needed some more cleaning but not too much. Did Josie and Hope cleaned _that_ much before they kissed? Ugh, Josie can’t remember, their kiss was the only thing she remembered from last night.

After looking around the whole living room, Josie headed to the kitchen, she opened the fridge to check for ingredients to whip up breakfasts. Of course, Aunt Freya and Aunt Keelin left them with a completely packed fridge enough to feed them for a whole week. Josie chuckled at the thought of them shopping and bantering with each other in what kind of groceries they should buy. Aunt Keelin of course will be the one who insisted on buying all the fresh products like dairy, vegetables, fruit and meats because she expected Hope to cook for herself and it’s healthier. While Aunt Freya will be shoving the frozen meals on the shopping cart, arguing that Hope is a terrible cook and she should be left in the mercy of a microwave to heat up the food. Turned out they both got what they wanted because the fridge was full of both fresh products and also frozen meals on the other side.

Josie thought to herself, will she and Hope fight on little things like this if they get together? It’s so adorable and Josie can’t help but smile at the thought. However, she quickly get that thought of her head because she still didn’t know what really happened last night and does Hope remember any of it?

To distract herself from anymore over-imaginative thoughts and scenarios, she focused herself on making up delicious breakfasts for Hope and herself. Okay, she’s going to make a full American breakfast for them both, it’s quite easy because all the ingredients were available and maybe if she got time she will make waffles too for dessert. Josie started to gather the ingredients from the fridge and took out all of the cutleries she needed. She hummed cheerfully because she kept thinking about her kiss with Hope even though she has told herself to not think about it too much. Her heart acted differently from her brain, so it seems. As Josie wait for the pan to heat up, she brewed a fresh pot of coffee because Josie knew that Hope will surely come down if she smelled caffeine.

Suddenly, Josie felt a pair of arms circling her hips as she started to fry the eggs and bacons, Hope was hugging her tightly and she rested her chin on Josie’s shoulder.

“This all smell so good, you always spoiled me, Jo” Hope said a little too close to Josie’s ears and it took all of Josie’s willpower to keep cooking and not burnt anything. Instead of answering Hope, Josie just nodded as she continued humming to prevent herself from asking Hope about the kiss last night.

“Mmm, fresh coffee! I love you Josette Saltzman!” Hope exclaimed excitedly when she smelled the fragrant aroma of the coffee and she pressed her lips to Josie’s right cheek. Josie was too stunned to react and thank the heavens Hope was already walking over to get a cup of coffee. Hope then returned beside her with a cup of coffee and a very satisfied face because she has got her caffeine supply for the day.

As she stood beside Josie, she realized that the girl hasn’t even take any cup of coffee, “Hey, you haven’t drink the coffee yet?”

“Yeah, I’ll just drink it later. And of course I’m going to honor the owner of the house of letting them drink their coffee first.”

“Jo, you haven’t had anything except alcohol in your stomach since last night. Drink.” Hope commanded Josie as she raised her coffee toward Josie’s lips while Josie was cooking, “Oh you’re going to honor the owner of the house by letting them drink the coffee first but when it comes to cooking breakfast you suddenly own the place?” Hope smirked, her tone playful.

Hope really adored how Josie loves to cook for her at her own kitchen because Hope was lacking the skill in that department. If her aunts were here, they would be in cooking in chaos right now because usually Josie will be helping Keelin cooks something healthy and on the other hand Freya will be pulling Josie to her side to help her bake some deserts or make some snacks. And Josie will obediently help both of her aunts and she will converse and joke around with them, it’s like Josie’s already part of her family. Hope blushed at the thought as she stared at her best friend fondly. Josie’s mouth was moving but she didn’t hear what she said because she was lost in her own thought.

“Sorry, what did you say?” Hope blinked, asking Josie to repeat her sentence.

“I said, it was fair because I wouldn’t want Aunt Freya and Aunt Keelin to ban me from going here since I allegedly starved their favorite niece,” Josie repeated her sentence.

Hope laughed at her answer, “Yeah that’s probably a legit reason. But Jo, seriously, you can eat all the food you wanted to here without waiting for mine or my aunts’ permission.”

“Alright, thanks Hope,” Josie answered softly to her best friend’s statement. While Josie continued preparing the breakfast, Hope sipped on her coffee as she checked on her phone. Oh wow, she actually missed 3 missed calls and 10 unopened text messages. Two missed calls were from her aunts, one call was from last night and the next one was from this morning, the last call was from Landon this morning. Ugh Hope rolled her eyes at her phone, remembering their fight last night. And 7 text messages were from Landon, 2 from her aunts and 1 from Lizzie. Hope scrunched her eyebrows seeing Lizzie’s message because she rarely messaged Hope so Hope quickly opened it, afraid that it might be an emergency. Cause why else would Lizzie contacted her right?

**_From: Barbie Saltzman_ **

_Turns out that you and my sister have kissed and made up. Have a wonderful night, hope you both stay safe and don’t forget to use protection!_

Hope gulped at the text message, Lizzie texted her just to tease her?! Wait, kissed? What the hell, how did Lizzie know! Is their twin empathy link really that strong? Can Lizzie feel that they both have kissed? Ew, it’s like somebody was spying on her kiss with Josie!

“Hope, you okay?” Josie startled Hope with her question.

“Yeah, yeah. A-OK! Everything’s okay,” Hope yelped a little bit.

Josie narrowed her eyes, “Your face is kinda red, are you drinking again?”

“Of course no, silly! The only thing I’ve been drinking is this glorious liquid that you’ve been seeing me sipping,” Hope raise her cup and downed the rest of her coffee in one shot to hide her blush. Josie smiled sweetly at Hope’s answer and she went back to her cooking while Hope went back to check her messages.

Hope of course chose to ignore Landon’s several texts because she just can’t deal with his whiny self right now. Hope then moved on to her aunt’s text.

**_From: Aunt Freya_ **

_How’s the party goin littlest wolf? pls tell me if u hv a hangover in the morning, I just hv the perfect cure for tht *wink emoji* pls don’t tell ur aunt keelin I texted u this(?)_

Hope chuckled at her aunt’s text from last night and then she saw that Aunt Freya was the one who called her in the morning. And Hope opened another text which was from Aunt Keelin.

**_From: Aunt Keelin_ **

_Morning, Hope. I hope you have fun last night ! We just want to tell you that we will be coming back Sunday evening. I’ve stocked up the fridge with food so you can cook for your meals. Have a great weekend honey! See you on Sunday *heart emoji*_

_dearest niece pls don’t fall for keelin’s trap, you don’t hv to be miserable by trying to cook for urself. we r not thinking of remodeling the kitchen yet so pls dont burn it down!! anyways u can see that I’ve bought u frozen meals too so u cn just reheat in the microwave. Cheers! *it’s aunt freya if u dk who it is* *laughing emojis (a lot of them)*_

Hope smiled at this text too and it warmed her heart knowing that both of her aunts truly care about her. She decided to reply to Aunt Keelin’s text and she decided to just send them a video because she was too lazy to type. So Hope opened her camera and started recording, she recorded the food Josie was cooking up and then she panned out and walked toward Josie, then she switched into the front camera and Hope put her left arm around Josie’s shoulders and her right hand was holding her phone toward their faces.

“Hey Aunties! Don’t worry I got my own personal chef here cooking for me, so Aunt Keelin, I am eating healthy! And Aunt Freya, I might take you up on the offer on your text!” Hope exclaimed as she winked to the camera and brought Josie closer to her. Josie was finishing up her cooking and she was ready to plate the food. She looked at the camera and smiled widely, “Hey Aunt Freya and Aunt Keelin! How’s the cabin? Hope you’re having a great time! Oh, your niece was holding me hostage just to cook for her.” She said nonchalantly as she continued plating the food.

“Hey! I can cook my own food!” Hope pouted at Josie.

“Cooking ramen doesn’t count, Hope” Josie stucked her tongue out to Hope.

Hope chuckled and looked at Josie softly, “You’re lucky that I adore you, Saltzman.”

“Nope, you only adore me because I cook for you,” Josie countered, “hey the food’s ready, let’s eat.”

“Okayyy! Aunties, hope you enjoy a little snippet of us being responsible young adults even though you are not here! We’re going to eat now! Have a good time and see you on Sunday!” Hope waved to the camera and Josie followed behind her, “Bye Aunties!” she grinned cheerfully as she also waved at the camera. Hope then stopped recording and sent the video to Aunt Keelin.

“Okay, let’s eat! I’m starving, these all look sooo good Jo!” she said excitedly as she sat down to eat.

“Nah, it’s nothing. Come on let’s dig in, I’m starving too!” Josie smiled and started to eat her breakfast.

“Mmmm Jo! It’s so delicious! What would I do without you?” Hope said dreamily after she took a bite of the food.

Josie blushed a little at Hope’s remark, “You flattered me, Hope. But this is just a simple breakfast. I’m glad you like it.”

They ate in a comfortable silence and with just some small talks, Hope remembered that she hasn’t replied to Lizzie’s text. So she decided to record a video again and send it to Lizzie. This time Hope only recorded Josie in front of her, “Jo,” she called out and Josie looked at the camera, “Huh?” she asked.

“Your sister’s harassing me on text.” Hope told Josie with a bit of her whiny tone.

Josie smiled adorably and looked straight to the camera, “Lizzie, stop harassing Hope. Or else I’ll tell mom and dad about the dent on the car.” Josie smiled calmly as she waved innocently toward the camera.

Hope laughed so hard while recording Josie and she was satisfied that Josie decided to blackmail Lizzie to stop harassing her. Hope stopped recording and sent it directly to Lizzie as she added several women-dancing-in-a-red-dress emojis.

“I’m sorry for my sister, Hope. She can be annoying sometimes, but trust me she’s kinda okay with you.” Josie apologized for her sister’s behavior.

“Of course I know Jo. I actually enjoyed my banters with her. But don’t you dare tell her cause I won’t hear the end of it from her later!” Hope pretended to threaten Josie. They both laughed together and then Hope’s phone chimed, it was a text from Aunt Keelin.

**_From: Aunt Keelin_ **

_Oh my god, you two are so cute! Thank god for Josie then, Freya and I are relieved to hear that you got someone to take care of you. Send Josie our best regards and give her a hug and a kiss from us for feeding our dear niece. And btw, we are having a great time!_

Attached on the text was a photo of Freya and Keelin in their sunglasses with champagne glasses, they looked so blissful and Hope showed the picture to Josie.

“Aw, your aunts are the cutest, Hope!” Josie exclaimed as she smiled at the picture.

“Oh, please don’t say that in front of them,” Hope said horrifyingly and she continued, “They told me to send them their regards and give you a hug and…” Hope trailed off her sentence.

“And what?” Josie waited for her to finish the sentence.

“A pat on the head!” Hope abruptly get up of her seat and hugged Josie and gave her a pat on the head. Josie just laughed at her best friend’s behavior.

Hope internally exhaled, why is she so nervous when her aunts mention a kiss, it was probably a kiss in the forehead or cheek, not a kiss on the lips, duh. Hope can’t help but think of their kiss and a warm feeling started to creep inside her. Hope decided to just keep her mouth shut because they were both pretty drunk last night and she asked Josie to kiss her. Oh god. And Josie kissed her. That’s crazy. She must be drunk right?? And she’s still with Penelope. Ugh, Hope’s so stupid when she’s drunk.

They continued eating in silence as they checked their respective phones and then Josie cleared up her throat as if she’s trying to say something.

“Uh, Hope..” she called out hesitantly.

“Yeah?” Hope looked up from the phone toward the brunette.

“Did you pick me up to your room last night?” Josie asked curiously.

“No, my minions picked you up through the forklift and delivered you to my room.” Hope joked with a straight face.

Josie tilted her head in confusion for a while and then she swatted Hope’s arm playfully, “Hope! I’m serious!”

“Okay, okay. Yeah, I picked you up last night since you passed out.” Hope chuckled nervously because she remembered well what happened before Josie passed out.

“Gosh, I’m sorry. I’m such a mess yesterday. So what happened last night? Do you remember? I think we were both pretty drunk.” Josie acted if she didn’t remember anything because she wanted to know what Hope will say next.

“Hmmm,” Hope pretended to get lost in her thought when she actually remembered all the details up to their kiss last night even though she drank a lot. Her father would be proud of her high tolerance of alcohol.

“I just remembered our fight and then I don’t know whether we talked about it or not. I hoped that I said sorry to you for what happened, Hope. I really felt bad.” Josie told Hope, wanting to know whether Hope remembered Josie’s apology or not.

“Uh, vaguely, Jo. I think we do talk but I mainly forgot the details.” Hope tried to hide the fact that yesterday’s kiss was playing in the back of her mind all night. Maybe this is Hope’s chance to come clean and just tell her that she remembered? Is this the right time for her to tell Josie about her feelings? After their kiss yesterday, Hope’s feelings toward Josie are spinning out of control. She selfishly longed for Josie again even though Josie’s with Penelope.

“Oh, so nothing significant happened then?” Josie asked nonchalantly as she tilted her head and looked at Hope with her adorable eyes.

“Um…something happened ac-actually…” Hope tried her best to not stutter because she can hear her heartbeat thumping loudly inside her; it was speeding up like it wanted to flee from Hope’s chest. Hope took a deep breath and calmed herself down, this is the moment she told Josie, Hope told herself.

Josie was listening to her attentively and she nodded, telling Hope to go on. “Uh we…” Hope bite her lower lip worriedly at what she’s going to say next, “we—“

Hope’s sentence was cut short by the ring of Josie’s phone, they both are startled at the sudden noise in the midst of the silence and Josie took her phone, “Sorry, I gotta take this!”

“Hey Pen!” Josie answered her phone.

Hope tuned out the rest of their conversations as she fully remembered reality. Josie was Penelope’s girlfriend. Hope was nobody to Josie to begin with. Yes, they were best friend but Josie only saw her as a friend while Hope wanted more. Hope felt like crying when she remembered the fact that Josie wasn’t even hers. After the kiss last night Josie passed out and Hope carried Josie to her room and Hope was on cloud nine, the kiss was replaying in her head. And this morning, it felt like heaven, having Josie woke up next to her and cooked her breakfast. It’s like they are in their own perfect world where Landon and Penelope didn’t even exist. But it all comes crashing down when Josie answered the call, Hope was reminded of her place.

Josie then hanged up her call and she put her phone on the table as she got back to Hope into their conversation, “Sorry. It’s Penelope.” Josie said with a little bit of disappointment in her eyes because she thought that Hope was going to say something important about last night to her. This is the time for Josie to know whether Hope remembered the kiss or not. Josie can felt her heart pumping fastly, nervous and excited for what Hope’s going to tell her. “So, you were saying?” Josie resumed their interrupted conversation.

“Uh yeah, I was saying that we broke one of Aunt Keelin’s sculpture last night.” Hope said seriously, her face twisted with worry.

Josie can’t help but feel disappointed, _that’s_ what’s Hope going to tell her? _That’s_ important? So Hope didn’t remember anything about the kiss then. Josie looked down defeatedly but she decided to ask Hope one more time, “Is there anything other than that?”

Hope scrunched her face as if she was trying hard to remember, “Um, nothing. I forgot what happened. I just remember bits and pieces, you passed out then I carried you to my room and on the way to my room I think we accidentally knocked Aunt Keelin’s sculpture from the shelf.”

Josie was trying hard to keep a calm expression and she just nodded her head in response.

“Hey Jo, don’t feel guilty, it’s my fault, we shouldn’t drink too much and I should’ve stopped you from drinking too much because you were such a lightweight. Don’t worry about the sculpture, Aunt Keelin will understand my explanation and I will take full responsibility for it. I’ll just have to think of something that didn’t include you passing out and me having gaps in my mind because of the booze.” Hope explained lengthily because she was afraid that Josie’s going to feel guilty and she will try to replace the sculpture.

“Anyway,” Hope continued speaking, “did you remember things from last night? Maybe you remembered what happened? Why did you drink until you blacked out, Jo?”

It was Josie’s turn to restrain herself from telling Hope what happened last night. Hope didn’t remember anything and Josie really wanted to tell her so bad that they kissed. But it could make things complicated again for the both of them and for their respective relationships.

“Hmm let me see, I remembered our fight. Then we played truth or dare, M.G. was handing me some beers when we were playing, then I stayed back here because I was going to apologize to you. We didn’t have a chance to talk and I was ready for you to snap at me again. And so, I drank, I was collecting enough courage to apologize to you. To tell you the truth, I was so scared because I knew I messed up and I really upset you. So I was drinking anything that was available, just to have the nerve to apologize.” Josie recalled the events from last night.

“I’m so sorry Jo for lashing out to you that way. I was hurt and also surprised that you could do that to me. My reaction to you was really selfish and mean. The alcohol got the best of me. Yes, I was angry but I shouldn’t have reacted that way. I’m sorry for making you afraid Jo.” Hope apologized sincerely because she knew how she behaved last night was pretty mean, the way she taunted Josie at the game was kinda low, “Just please don’t do that again okay? What’s done is done and I forgive you.”

“Lashing out was natural Hope. You should’ve been angry with me, I deserved it. I won’t do that anymore. I was pretty dim-witted when I did all those things.” Josie looked down embarrassedly.

Hope then decided to make sure if that’s the only thing Josie remembered so she asked again, “Wow. Guess we did drink a lot last night. I’m glad that we can talk about it again now and we can understand each other. So after you apologized to me, you remembered what happened Jo?”

“No, I don’t think so. The last thing I remembered was approaching you and apologizing, yes we talked but it’s just like what you said, it’s a tblur and the next thing I knew I was waking up on your bed. I didn’t even realize that you picked me up to your bedroom!” Josie exclaimed as she pretended to have no clue on what happened last night.

“Oh okay,” Hope sounded disappointed but maybe that’s Josie’s mind playing games on her, so Josie went back into finishing her breakfast and Hope also took another cup of coffee to hide her disappointment from Josie.

Well, it seems that Josie didn’t remember any of the things from last night and maybe it’s for their own good. It won’t make their relationship complicated. They can just go back to normal. But Hope knew deep down inside, she will still long for Josie even though it made her heart ached so bad. At least Josie won’t feel guilty toward Penelope about what happened. Hope knew how the girl’s guilt can eat her up from the inside. Hope exhaled, feeling relieved but also hurt at the same time.

“Well, I forget to tell you that I actually confronted Landon yesterday about his kiss with Vanessa and he didn’t deny it. He actually kissed back! Can you believe it?” Hope informed Josie of her fight with Landon yesterday.

“What?! That jerk has the nerve to kiss back? Wow. I’m sorry if it’s too soon Hope but I don’t regret badmouthing him now.” Josie spoke in a low voice but deadly tone.

“Look, he’s texting me since last night, ugh.” Hope showed the unread messages from Landon.

Josie really wanted to take Hope’s phone and sent a message to the boy directly, telling him to just fuck off and get away as far as humanly possible from Hope. Damn right, he’s a jerk, Josie was not wrong about it.

“Let me talk to him Hope.” Josie said sternly asking for Hope’s phone.

“No, Jo. I’ll deal with him but not today. And it’s best if you don’t get involved because Landon seems to know that you were spreading lies about him and he brought you up in our fight yesterday. I don’t know what’s his deal.” Hope rolled her eyes, stopping Josie from getting involved because she didn’t want to make things much more complicated. Seeing Josie protective of her really stirred up something inside and she can felt her love just growing more and more for the girl. “But thank you for your intention, Jo.” She smiled as she took Josie’s hand.

Josie interlocked their fingers together across the table and they were both staring at each other tenderly, a smile and Josie’s lips and Hope was staring Josie with a warmth that Josie can’t comprehend. They just wished that time would freeze and they can stay like this as long as they wanted.

“Wait, you said that Landon brought me up on your fight yesterday?” Josie broke the silence.

“Yeah, I was accusing him of being so close with Vanessa and then he attacked me by saying that we were too close for his likings. What a childish way to defend himself.” Hope grunted frustrated at her boyfriend’s behavior.

Landon was jealous of Josie? She smiled a bit at the thought. It was good to make that boy felt threatened by presence beside Hope even though they were only best friends. Such an insecure and stupid boy. What did Hope even see in him?

Suddenly Josie’s phone rang again and Hope was a bit disappointed when Josie pulled her hand away.

“Hello?” “Yeah, okay, Lizzie.” “No, stop it!” “Yes, she’s right in front of me.” “No, I won’t say that to her.” “Okay, okay, I’ll be home soon. Geez! I’ll walk back you don’t need to pick me up.” “No, Liz!“ “Urgh, okay if you say so. Bye. Love you.”

Hope can only hear what Josie was saying and she can’t comprehend what Lizzie was saying but it seems that Josie need to go home.

“Is everything okay?” Hope asked after Josie hanged up the phone.

“Yeah, yeah. I just remembered that my family is going to have a barbeque this afternoon. So I’m going home. Lizzie’s picking me up because she said she was just heading home from the Grill. Which I think that might be an excuse just to come and tease us both.” Josie rolled her eyes knowing that her sister will be teasing her relentlessly because of the video Hope sent her. “Hey, why don’t you join us?” Josie offered Hope.

“That’s okay, I don’t really want to intrude,” Hope turned down the offer politely.

“You’re never intruding, Hope. I am inviting you. Come on, you already met all of them, oh and Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Enzo are coming, they just did a trip around the world and I’m sure they got a lot of fun stories to tell.” Josie informed excitedly to Hope.

“Sorry, Jo. I’m really interested, but this hangover is killing me and I need to clean up the rest of the house. You don’t need anybody puking in the family barbeque right? Oh I can’t live that down with Lizzie if it were to happen.” Hope imagined the scenario and she can already imagined Lizzie cackling maniacally. “And I also need to talk to Landon about our fight.” Hope added shortly.

“Okay then,” Josie pouted, “but what are you going to eat for dinner? Do you want to go to the grill in the evening?”

“Jo, you don’t have to worry about me! I have a fridge full of frozen meals right and if I felt like cooking I can just open Youtube and tried to cook. Emphasize on the tried. If it failed, eh, I’ll just cook ramen.” Hope assured Josie, “Go have fun with your family, Jo. I’m going to be okay.”

“Text me if you need anything okay!” Josie said worriedly and as she was about to say something there was a knock at the house, it’s Lizzie. Both Hope and Josie stared at each other and braced themselves for any remarks from Lizzie.

Hope opened the door and Lizzie was smiling creepily at the both of them, “Good day love birds! You must be so tired last night that you get up late this morning.” She greeted them cheerfully as if nothing’s wrong with her statement. Both Hope and Josie were flustered by her remark, Hope was trying to deny powerlessly and Josie quickly scurried inside to take her things and she practically shoved her sister out of Hope’s house because she was teasing them relentlessly. Josie guessed her sister must have dropped another innuendo toward Hope because she was acting weirdly. Josie took the keys from Lizzie’s hand and she forced her sister to wait inside the car and she locked the door. Then Josie sprinted back toward Hope and gave her a hug, “So so so sorry about Lizzie! She was being insufferable as usual! Text me okay? Love you!” In the blink of an eye, Josie was already going back to the car and Lizzie was wearing her shit-eating grin as she stared at their interactions.

Josie sped away as fast as she can and she locked the car windows to stop Lizzie from shouting anything profane toward Hope. This is getting more and more embarrassing by the second. If Lizzie knew what happened last night, she will never stop making comment about it, Josie was sure of that. Lizzie laughed and teased her the whole way home and Josie was getting more nervous because she actually just started learning to drive.

When they arrived Lizzie commented, “Great job, dearest sister. You drive well under pressure and you’re ready to get your driver license! Unfortunately we have to wait one more year.” She chuckled and got out of the car, skipping along the way cheerfully because she was really satisfied on Hope and Josie’s reactions.

Josie wiped the sweat from her forehead, she was actually panicking in the middle of the drive and Lizzie’s constant teasing didn’t help her very much. But fortunately she arrived safely at her house without any scratch, well, Lizzie’s actually right, she might be ready for the driver’s test now. The only problem is they need to wait for their 16th birthday.

Josie stayed awhile at the car first, processing what happened and she exhaled in relief. But then, she remembered that Hope was going to talk to Landon; will Hope give Landon another chance? And the fact that Hope didn’t remember anything from last night kinda crushed Josie. She remembered everything but of course, Hope, who asked Josie to kiss her, forgot about it. So, Hope didn’t mean to ask Josie for a kiss if she was really drunk. Josie still feel sad on the fact that what happened last night seemed only like her dream, because she’s the only one who remembered it. Josie then heard her phone chimed and she checked that Penelope messaged her and then the feeling of regret started to sink in. Maybe it’s a good thing that Hope didn’t remember the kiss. It will be only a memory for Josie to keep for herself and at least this way, nobody will ever know about what happened last night. Josie then took a deep breath and she exited her car, getting herself excited to meet the whole family since it’s been a while Josie gathered with them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sooo how was it guyss? what do you think? please do tell me in your comments!   
> so grateful for all your kudos, comments and bookmarks, we're almost getting to the end, it'll be about 3-4 chapters left. we're almost done guys, i can't believe it! :(  
> anywayss, i'm always happy to read and reply your comment. and for those of you who have guessed about things in what will happen this chapter, did you guess it right? i hope you are all satisfied with the chapter.   
> oh and btw i am so freakin excited to hear that Taylor Swift will be dropping another album at midnight!! it's a sign that I should write more Hosie songfics maybe (?)  
> a bit of spoiler alert: i'm also going to make another Hosie fic but it's still in the works, i just brainstormed and drafted some ideas, it's coming soon :D  
> for now, that's it, until next week guys! stay safe and healthy, people! xoxo


	11. like a figment of my worst intentions (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The drama unfolds! What will happen between Josie and Penelope? And what about Hope and Landon?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! it's Thursday and it's another update!!! I'm kinda excited for you guys to read this chapter because the drama is on *dun dun dun* !!   
> First and foremost, as I've promised, I'm going to dedicate this chapter to my friend, MurphytheCat for another right guess yet again on my update! One of your prediction is spot on and I must applaud you for that my friend! I thought that I could tag you but turns out I can't do it so I'm going to credit you here :D  
> Second, I will be breaking up this section into two chapters because the drama is getting crazier on the next chapter and it might be too crazy if I unload all the dramas on a long chapter. There will be a lot of things happening so I hope by dividing the chapter you guys could enjoy the drama more.  
> Now without further ado, PLEASE ENJOY !!!! <3

_**I was walking home on broken cobblestones**   
**Just thinking of you when she pulled up**   
**Like a figment of my worst intentions  
** _ **_She said "James, get in, let's drive"  
Those days turned into nights  
Slept next to her but  
I dreamt of you all summer long_ **

The following week after her kiss with Josie, Hope has been stuck in a rut, she hasn’t talk to Landon yet as she kept avoiding him. Thank god that they are not in the same school, or else Hope would’ve gotten crazy with Landon’s demand to talk. He kept calling and texting Hope for wanting to talk, Hope only answered him once in a while because she was annoyed with the boy. She told Landon to give her some space to think but that boy kept messaging her, apologizing and wanting to fix everything that happened. In this moment Hope really wished she has some magic spell to just kept Landon’s mouth shut, or even better, Landon would just freeze and she can just tossed him into the ocean. Well, that’s a bit overboard but Hope was really annoyed with how the boy acted. She thought to herself, what the hell she saw in this boy when they first started dating.

After imagining ways to make Landon shut up in her mind, Hope will always return to one face, Josie’s. She thought about their kiss and it’s the only thing that made her feel better. Hell, she didn’t even felt bad toward Landon anymore, he started it and he was the one who kissed Vanessa first. Hope should’ve broke up with him right at the time they fought at the party back then. If they broke up maybe she could avoid all of her complicated feelings about the kiss. However, she remembered that Penelope still exists.

If Landon wasn’t in the picture, Penelope was still in the picture and Josie was still with Penelope. It was wrong for Hope to ask Josie to kiss her, but Josie did right? She kissed Hope and Hope kissed her back, it was a pretty amazing first kiss. Yeah, Josie was actually Hope’s first kiss. Hope and Landon almost kissed several times but it seems like there were just things that kept interrupting them, and Hope thought, maybe all of the interruptions were a sign from the universe to keep her away from that jerk. And Hope was glad that she didn’t have her first kiss with Landon, she actually got her first kiss from the person she really loves. It doesn’t even matter if that said person didn’t actually remember the kiss. Hope can only be grateful to the universe that Josie, her best friend whom she’s in love with, was her first kiss.

Hope’s phone rang for the umpteenth time and she rejected the call again because she knew that it was Landon. She wasn’t ready to talk to him and she was pretty angry because Landon was pressuring her to forgive him for everything and he wanted to continue their relationship as if nothing happened. Hope didn’t realize that her aunts were watching her frowning at the phone and rejecting the call adamantly.

“It seems that someone was really desperate to talk to you.” Freya’s voice broke Hope out of her own thought.

“Hm, yeah. Not really in the mood to talk.” Hope answered.

“Who is it? Is it Josie?” Freya asked.

“Of course it isn’t, honey! Hope would never do this to Josie. In fact, I think Hope can never be mad to Josie, isn’t it right, Hope?” Keelin interjected Freya’s question as if she was asking a very silly question like what’s the first letter of the alphabet. Keelin shakes her head in disbelief of her wife’s cluelessness.

“Oh, sorry. I just thought that the only person who’s been texting and calling our niece is Josie.” Freya replied nonchalantly, “So you do have friends, Hope?!” Freya asked as she pretended to be shocked.

Keelin hit her wife’s arm softly, signaling her to stop joking around. Hope rolled her eyes at Freya and she chuckled at Hope’s reaction.

“Is that Landon?” Keelin asked Hope carefully, not wanting to sound so nosy.

“Yeah, it is.” Hope stared at her phone furiously as if it was the phone’s fault that Landon kept messaging and calling her.

“And why does he keep messaging and calling you?” Keelin continued her interrogation since Hope seems in the mood to open up.

“We actually had a fight at the party but we haven’t talk about it properly. I actually need some space to think, I told him that but it doesn’t seem that he respected my wish.” Hope told Keelin.

“Landon? Is that the boy who strangely looks like a bird?” Freya scrunched her face, trying to remember Landon, “Just why in the world are you dating him? I thought you’re not interested in him?” Freya rested her chin on her hand, waiting for Hope’s response.

“Yeah, Aunt Freya,” Hope answered, “at first he was nice and talking to him was actually comfortable and we actually had some things in common so I felt that it’s easier talking to him because he understand what I’m feeling, so I decided that maybe I could date him. But as time goes by, I realized that he was different, he was being possessive and there were some times that he tried to make me feel guilty rather than admitting his mistake. I can’t deal with a person like that. I actually told him that we were better off being friends but he kept denying it and asking me to work on the relationship.” Hope told both of her aunts lengthily.

Keelin was listening patiently and intensely at Hope’s explanation while Freya was muttering curses under her breath and Hope held back a laugh from looking at Freya. “Wow, I think that was the first time I actually told people about what I felt about him. Hearing myself, it seemed that I’m heading toward a toxic relationship. Whew, thank heavens that I’ve realized it before it’s too late.” Hope admitted to her aunts.

“Honey, I’m so proud of you for coming to term with this on your own. A lot of people sometimes didn’t even realize that they were in a toxic relationship, they usually just get deeper and deeper down into the rabbit hole until one day they realized that they were trapped in the relationship and it will be hard for them to get out of the relationship. I’m glad that you realized it before it’s too late and you have the courage to tell us.” Keelin held Hope’s hand across the table, smiling proudly at how her niece is pretty intuitive for a teenage girl in her age.

Freya was lost in her thought and she stayed quiet, Hope was actually terrified when Freya stays still like this, she was usually thinking of chaotic things if she didn’t say anything. Freya tend to get lost in her own thoughts, Hope knew this because she was actually the same, apparently she tend to get lost in her own head and sometimes it could be pretty chaotic.

“Aunt Freya?” Hope poked her aunt’s arm.

“Huh?!” Freya jolted as she was brought out of her daze.

“Any thoughts or comments?” Hope asked her aunt as she held back her chuckle.

“You know, for a second I thought that there’s something very wrong with you when you started dating that boy. Oh I didn’t even think that you were dating him. I just thought that you were only toying with him.”

Freya shook her head in disbelief, “If your father were here I think he would definitely scare that boy off the moment he picked you up for your date. I think Klaus would chase him away from the house with his dagger collections.” Freya chuckled as she remembered her brother fondly.

“I had a feeling that he was useless but I didn’t even think that he would be so vile that he started gaslighting you. It’s good that you’re a Mikaelson, we have this special ability to see through people’s bullshit.” Freya patted Hope’s head proudly.

Hope smiled at her aunt’s response and she didn’t even feel bad for Landon anymore and she was sure now that she will talk with Landon and break up with him. There’s no pity and guilt left anymore toward Landon. Hope only wished that Landon won’t be making a scene when she talked with him. So Hope needs to choose a quiet and secluded place so Landon won’t embarrass her too much even if he made a scene. After some thinking, Hope thought of a part of the park that was kinda secluded so she could speak semi-privately toward Landon but it’s public enough to keep Landon in check if he was thinking to make a scene.

Hope then typed up a text to Landon.

**_To: Landon_ **

_Meet me at the park by the Lockwood statue at 6 PM. Please stop calling me or I won’t show up._

“It’s done, I am asking him to meet me tonight, and I’ll break up with him.” Hope told both of her aunts.

Keelin and Freya smiled at their niece and Keelin patted Hope’s arm, “I’m proud of you Hope and thank you for telling us about this.”

“You know, I always thought that you were secretly dating Josie.” Freya commented out of the blue.

Hope was flustered at her aunt’s comment, why are people commenting about her relationship with Josie out of nowhere, it was Lizzie who started it and then now her aunt? Is she really that obvious about her feelings toward Josie?

“Uh, why do you think so?” Hope questioned her aunt.

“I saw the way you both looked at each other and how you acted around each other, I just assume that you were dating, you both looked like you’re dating though.” Freya shrugged her shoulder.

Hope pretended to scoff in disbelief, “Ah Aunt Freya, you’re just hallucinating because you’re old.” Hope decided to change the topic because she was embarrassed that it means she looked that obviously in love with Josie. “And you’re actually wrong; Josie is dating Penelope, a girl from my grade.”

“People broke up, Hope. And look at you and Landon, you dated but you realized that he wasn’t unlike anything you expected. Maybe Josie is still figuring out things.” Freya told Hope.

“No, it’s impossible Aunt Freya. We’re only best friends. Even if I do have feelings for her, I don’t think she can reciprocate my feelings. Josie is just that affectionate with people around her, it doesn’t mean anything.” Hope tried to deny what her aunt said because she didn’t want to get her hopes up with Josie.

“Oho! So you admit that you have feelings for Josie?” Aunt Freya exclaimed excitedly.

“What?!” Hope was shocked because she realized that she blurted out that she has feelings for Josie. “Ugh, Aunt Freyaaa!” Hope can only buried her face in her hands out of embarrassment.

“Babe, stop it. You’re making Hope blush.” Keelin said gleefully to her wife, “Hey c’mon we got to get going. Hope we’ll be back by 9, dinner’s on the fridge.” Keelin informed Hope as she pulled Freya away from Hope. Freya was still laughing at Hope’s embarrassment and she gave Hope a side hug, “Call me if that boy acted up on your talk tonight, we will be right there to handle him if you need us.” Freya told her niece.

Hope was still burying her face with her hands as she mumbled, “Yeah, thank you, bye aunties.” She waved at her aunts.

After her aunts left, Hope was alone and she thought to herself, maybe Landon is really jealous of her and Josie. If Hope acted that obviously, it made sense that Landon kept bringing Josie up in their fights. Yeah, Hope really needs to break up with this boy.

* * *

At about 5.30 P.M. Hope walked to the park and she stopped by her favorite café to buy a hot drink first because it’s a chilly evening. Then she took her time walking to the park, when she arrived, Landon was nowhere to be found. Hope checked her watch and it was almost 6. She decided to sit at the bench and wait for Landon. After about 15 minutes of waiting, the boy showed up, panting heavily, “Hey, babe. Sorry that I’m late. The band practice ran late.” Landon then tried to hug Hope.

Hope stopped the boy before he can hug her, “Don’t ‘babe’ me. Oh is the band really practicing late or that’s just an excuse because you’re making out with Vanessa?” Hope said sharply because she was annoyed that Landon acted as if nothing happened between them.

“Hey, I said I’m sorry okay? I swear I didn’t kiss her again.” Landon tried to defend himself.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you have the right to act like nothing happened.” Hope answered furiously.

“Why are you making this such a big deal? I apologized to you and you’re still mad at me? You’re unbelievable.”

“You’re the unbelievable one. I can’t handle this anymore, I’m done.” Hope exclaimed angrily as she shook her head in disbelief of Landon’s nerve.

“What do you mean you’re done?” Landon asked, his face confused.

“I’m done putting up with you, Landon. We’re done. I am breaking up with you.” Hope was emphasizing all of her sentence toward Landon so he got the meaning.

“No, you’re just saying it just to spite me; I know that you don’t mean it.” Landon tried to calm Hope down and he tried to hold Hope’s hand.

Hope swatted his arm away, “What is it you don’t get? I meant every word I said. I’m breaking up with you.”

“Oh come on, babe. We can fix this. I know that we can fix this.” Landon begged Hope, “How many times do I have to say I’m sorry? Did you know how many times I’ve been patient with you? You’re the one who always acted up over nothing and I’m always the one who tolerated you. Everything is always my fault and I know it, I’m sorry. But don’t let one stupid mistake ruined what we had. I’m sorry.” Landon desperately whined.

“There’s nothing else to fix because it’s over. I’m done with you playing victim. And it’s not just because of this stupid mistake. It’s my own decision and I thought that we were better off as friends. It’s not you, it’s me. I felt that I was being unfair if I kept stringing you along when I didn’t have any feelings for you anymore.” Hope explained as she tried to calm herself down. She was really mad at the fact that Landon felt that he was the one who always sacrificed everything.

“Is there someone else?” Landon asked, suddenly his voice became quiet.

Hope was indecisive whether to tell Landon about her kiss with Josie or not, Josie didn’t even remembered the kiss right, Hope was the only one who knows, but it seems unfair toward Landon if she didn’t tell him. So Hope took a deep breath and said, “No. But I have to tell you something, I kissed somebody on the party. I’m sorry. I just thought that it was fair for you to know.” Hope finished her sentence with a straight face because weirdly she didn’t feel guilty anymore about what she did with Josie, she just pitied the boy who was delusional enough to think that Hope was madly in love with him.

“That’s okay. It was fair. I kissed somebody and you kissed somebody. That means we could get a clean slate, what’s done is done and I hope we can move on together in the future. I know that we could fight for this. I know it in my heart, Hope. I know that you can’t let go of me. You were just feeling bad that you kissed somebody. That must be the reason.” Landon told Hope, his face was starting to light up.

Oh my god, Hope can’t believe this boy. He kept insisting that they can still work, how delusional. “Landon, stop it. I don’t have feelings for you anymore. And I’m sorry but I didn’t feel guilty for kissing that person, in fact it was good, it was the best first kiss and it’s exactly everything I hoped for!” Hope raised her voice sternly, wanting Landon to snap out from his stupid imagination.

“Who did you kiss Hope?” Landon questioned her calmly.

“It doesn’t matter. What matter is that I’m breaking up with you. We’re done. Please stop thinking that we still belong together, you’re being delusional.” Hope said bluntly to Landon, not caring about his feelings anymore. If Landon didn’t keep forcing her to fix their relationship, Hope might still feel bad. But now all she feels toward Landon is only anger.

“Okay. Just don’t come running right back at me when you realized that you make a big mistake.” Landon said in an awfully calm demeanor and Hope was weirded out by his behavior. “Good bye, Hope.” Landon got up of the bench and he left.

Hope was shocked at the sudden change of Landon’s behavior, why did he suddenly accept their break up and left without any fight? Hope has a bad feeling about this but she can’t quite put her finger on it. Hope just exhaled in relief because she didn’t have to deal with Landon’s bullshit anymore. Hope didn’t know when the boy got really delusional about their whole relationship. Yes, Hope admitted that she wasn’t being the best girlfriend but Landon acting like he was always the victim and he was the one who always fight for their relationship just angered Hope. However, at least now they have break up and Hope also has told Landon about her kiss and apologized to him. The only thing she wanted to do now is to meet Josie and just spend time with her. Hope’s sure that spending time with Josie will make her forget and leave behind all the drama with Landon. So she tried to call Josie’s phone but it went to voicemail. Hope frowned and decided to stay in the park for a while then she took out her earphones and started to listen to her playlist.

After sitting for a while hope noticed a familiar raven-haired figure who was approaching her, she took off her earphones and squinted her eyes at the person.

“Hey, Hope!” the figure waved as they moved closer.

Oh god. It’s Penelope. Okay, first why is she suddenly greeting Hope like they were actually friends? And second, Hope’s mind catapulted right back to her kiss with Josie, she can’t get it out of her mind and seeing Penelope kinda reminded her of Josie again. Hope wasn’t ready for this to cause her to feel this complicated. Wait, did Penelope knows about the kiss? Is that why she’s approaching her? Is she going to assassinate Hope right here? Maybe that’s why she was calling out Hope’s name in such a friendly way, so that she won’t run away from Penelope.

Suddenly Penelope was in front of Hope, smiling at Hope, “Hey! Are you alone? May I sit here?”

Penelope’s voice brought Hope out of her trance, “Oh, hey! Yeah, yeah. Come, sit.” Hope scooted a bit so Penelope can sit on the bench.

Hope wasn’t really sure what’s Penelope’s motive for approaching her, so she just nodded her head awkwardly, “I didn’t think I’d see you here.”

“Yeah, I was actually walking back home and I noticed you, so here I am.” Penelope shrugged her shoulders.

“So, how are you?” Penelope asked Hope.

“I’m good. How about you?” Hope answered but she is still weirded out by their exchange.

“Good. Actually I have something I wanted to ask you.” Penelope told Hope, her face turned serious.

Okay, there it is. Penelope wanted to ask something. So she knows about the kiss. But how could she know? Josie didn’t even remember their kiss!

“Go ahead.” Hope nodded her head, motioning for Penelope to continue.

“What happened last weekend at the party?” Penelope questioned.

Shit. She really knows. Hope’s heart was beating quite loudly and she was nervous on how to answer Penelope.

“Uhh…” Hope hesitated because she couldn’t find the right word to say to Penelope. Hope then took a deep breath and prepared herself on the consequence, “Look, Penelope. I’m sorry that I-“

“Hold it. I know you’re Josie’s best friend and all that but can you just help me out this once? I know we didn’t exactly have a good track record, but please can you help me?” Penelope looked at Hope expectantly.

“Sorry, what?!” Hope exclaimed confusedly at Penelope’s questions.

“Yeah, I just want to know, what happened last weekend? Josie seemed distant this whole week and I have talked to her and asked her what’s wrong but she kept saying nothing’s wrong. But I know there must be something wrong. I just don’t know what.” Penelope tried to explain frustratedly.

Oh my god. Hope felt like she was just plunged in a roller coaster and now she was back again to her stable condition. Penelope didn’t know about the kiss. Hope exhaled in relief, “Um, okay. Let me think.” Hope paused and she tried to think of an excuse about why Josie seemed so distant. Hope didn’t even know. Yes, Jose and her didn’t text a lot this week but it doesn’t mean she’s being distant.

“Nothing happened to Josie at the party, not that I know of. I thought she mostly stayed by your side at the party?” Hope told Penelope.

“Yeah, she did. But she stayed over at your house after the party right?” Penelope questioned suspiciously.

“That’s right. But nothing significant happened. Just your usual sleepovers and she actually passed out because she drank too much and the next day she didn’t stay long at my house because she has family barbeque.” Hope narrated what happened last weekend to Penelope, but of course omitting the part where she and Josie kissed.

Penelope looked kinda defeated and sad and Hope felt guilty because she dared Josie to kiss her. “I just didn’t know what I did wrong.”

“Hey, maybe you’re not that problem, maybe something happened last weekend with her family. Don’t worry too much. I believe when the time is right, Josie will tell you.” Hope awkwardly patted Penelope’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

“I was hoping that you actually know what happened. But I guess you also haven’t got a clue about it. Well, thanks anyway. “ Penelope smiled sincerely, appreciating Hope’s words.

“You know, I was actually going to ask her to come on a road trip with me on summer.” Penelope fidgeted with her jacket as she told Hope, “I was going to ask her parents’ permission first and then I’ll ask her if she wanted to come. But I guess maybe this isn’t the right move.”

Hope instantly felt really bad for Penelope despite Penelope not knowing what happened, “How about I help you in finding out why Josie seemed distant? And maybe I could convinced her to go with you.” she smiled encouragingly.

“If that’s okay with you, yeah, can you please do that? Maybe she’ll tell you.” Penelope said with a hint of smile on her face.

“Sure, sure. But I can’t promise you anything, okay? If I found the right moment to talk to her, I’ll do it. So now you just need to ask for her parent’s permission first.”

“Thank you so much!” Penelope exclaimed in gratitude, “And uh, one more thing. Can I have Mrs. Forbes’ phone number?” she asked Hope sheepishly.

“Oh, yeah. I’ll send it to you.” Hope pulled out her phone and sent Caroline’s number to Penelope, “Sorry, but I gotta get going, my aunts are waiting for me at home.” Hope stood up because her guilt was eating her up and she can’t believe herself for volunteering to talk to Josie about Penelope. What the hell is wrong with her?

“Okay! Thanks a lot Hope, I owe you one.” Penelope said sincerely to Hope.

“No big deal. So, good luck?” Hope said uncertainly as she waved back toward Penelope. Hope quickly turned around and walked back home with a truly complicated feelings. Ugh, it sucks to be the only one who remembered what happened that night. If Hope told Josie everything will changed and Hope’s not ready for what could happened. But now, her own guilt and stupidity resulted in her involvement in Josie and Penelope’s relationship. Hope didn’t even remember that she just broke up with Landon because her meeting with Penelope just intensified her guilt about the kiss. Now, she has to find a way to ask Josie about her relationship with Penelope. How did it get so complicated?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how was it guys?? do you like it? please do tell me!   
> oh and it's established in my fic that their kiss here was actually the first kiss for the both of them. i hope you guys realized it. :) they were each other's first kisses! idk why but i got so excited in revealing it to you guys eventhough i'm the one who's writing it lol i'm sorry guys i'm such a dork.  
> as always, thank you so much for those who commented and gave kudos and also bookmarked this fic! You guys are all the best! Please do comment and tell me what you think about the chapter, I'm always excited to read about what you guys think!  
> Anndddd, please brace yourself for more drama in the next update! til then, stay healthy and safe! love you guys :D


	12. slept next to her but I dreamt of you all summer long (part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More drama unfolding! What will Hope do next? And will Josie go with Penelope on the road trip?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy sunday and i've decided to give you guys a surprise update!! this is actually the second part of the section. i promised you guys with more drama and so here it is, a whole 6k words chapter of drama and angst. wow my favorite combination! lol, i actually had fun writing this chapter and i hope that you guys will be excited to read it! i hope you can feel the emotions i felt while writing this chapter when you read it. enjoy the update and I hope that you have a good day! <3

**_I was walking home on broken cobblestones  
Just thinking of you when she pulled up  
Like a figment of my worst intentions  
_ _She said "James, get in, let's drive"  
Those days turned into nights  
Slept next to her but  
I dreamt of you all summer long_ **

“Hope ‘whatever your freaking middle name is’ Mikaelson!! Open up!!” Hope heard impatient knockings on her door. She just got out of the shower and she was shocked to hear Lizzie at her door. What the hell is she doing here?

“Wait a minute, I just got out of the shower, let me put on some clothes!” Hope shouted back.

“Oh god, too much information! Can you not?!” Lizzie gagged, “Come on, Mikaelson! Dress fast or I’m knocking this door down!” she kept knocking on the door just to annoy Hope.

Hope put on her clothes as fast as she could and she basically leapt out of her bed toward the door, “What?!” she faced Lizzie who actually looked serious.

Lizzie barged into her room furiously and Hope was confused on what’s happening. “Why are you here? Is there something wrong with Josie?” Hope asked worriedly.

“No. But there’s something really wrong with your boyfriend!” Lizzie accused Hope angrily.

“What boyfriend?!” Hope didn’t get what Lizzie is trying to get to.

“That pathetic excuse you call a boyfriend! I’m going to kill him if I could!” Lizzie exclaimed, Hope can see fire in her eyes.

“Wait a minute. Can you please calm down and tell me everything? And no he isn’t my boyfriend anymore, I broke up with him.” Hope told Lizzie about her recent break up.

“What?! Oh my god. That’s why! That fucking imbecile!” Lizzie jolted as if she realized something.

“What is it Lizzie? Why did you come here? ” Hope asked impatiently at the blonde girl in front of her. Lizzie’s face screamed bloody murder and she looked like she was about to blow up.

“He freaking attacked Josie, Hope! He grabbed her and started shouting at her! Josie was shook after he’s done. Thank god Rafael and M.G. was there to stop him from hurting Josie any longer!” Lizzie shouted in anger. “We didn’t even know why he acted that way. The moment he shouted and grabbed Josie everything was a blur, I was trying to protect her because she’s in shock and she didn’t even move or fight back when that scum was shouting at her!”

Hope was stunned and her heart dropped at what Lizzie told her. That dread turned into a hot ember of anger and rage that she hasn’t feel since her parents’ death. Hope tried to control herself by clenching her fist but she was fuming with anger. Her main focus now is to stay calm and making Lizzie cool down first.

Lizzie was also shaking with anger and Hope never seen her this mad. “Lizzie, sit down please. I’m gonna go down for a while to get you a glass of water.”

Lizzie sat down on the couch and she nodded at Hope, when Hope was at the door, Lizzie called out, “Uh, a glass of iced tea if you have one. Thank you.”

Hope wanted to chuckle at Lizzie’s request even though she is really mad right now, but that’s good, it means she can control herself. Hope swore she’s going to kill Landon if Lizzie hadn’t beaten her to it. After grabbing two glasses of iced tea, Hope returned to her room and gave a glass to Lizzie. Lizzie downed the drink in one big gulp and she tried to compose herself as Hope sipped the iced tea slowly.

“Lizzie, is Josie okay? Where is she now?” Hope asked Lizzie worriedly.

“She’s okay now. But she’s still shaken up, she’s been staying in her room since last night. She said she’s okay but I know that she was really affected by what happened.” Lizzie told her.

“Okay. That’s good.” Hope released her breath in relief but she’s still seething with anger toward Landon. “Now, can you tell me what happened?”

Lizzie took several deep breaths and Hope knew that she was trying her best to control herself. “Last night we were having dinner at the Grill with Rafael and M.G., Rafael then received a call from Landon and he invited him to join us. When he arrived at first he looked shocked so we asked him if he’s okay, then he started rambling in anger. We were trying to calm him down and then when Josie tried to talk to him, he started shouting at her, accusing her of things, he said something about a kiss but I really didn’t hear all of it. Then Rafael tried to stop him from shouting at Josie and making a scene, that’s when he grabbed and dragged Josie out of the Grill. He was acting like a madman, he’s fucking unhinged, there’s something really wrong with him Hope! He said mean things to Josie and he was blaming her for something but I didn’t know what. We ran after them then M.G. and Rafael got a hold of him and Rafael dragged him home. I was really scared, Hope. Josie just stood there, shocked, but she didn’t say anything to Landon. And when we asked her what he said to her, Josie only said that Landon was angry and he didn’t mean anything by it. She told us that it wasn’t a big deal and M.G. directly drove us both home. This morning Raf told me that Landon was actually just met with you before he went to the Grill but he didn’t say anything else about what he did to Josie and why he was so angry yesterday.” Lizzie narrated what happened last night. Weirdly, the whole narration seemed to calm Lizzie down, her voice was still full of anger but at least she didn’t yell anymore.

“Hope.” Lizzie broke Hope out of her trance and put her arm on Hope’s hand, Hope didn’t realize that she was curling both of her hands into fists as she shook with uncontrollable anger.

“I-I’m sorry.” Hope took a deep breath and a gulp of her ice tea to stop her from acting rashly.

“Are you okay?” Lizzie asked worriedly.

“No, I’m not. I can’t believe that fucking jerk did that to Josie. I thought he was taking the break up well, sure he was acting a bit delusional at first but then he seemed to take it pretty well. I never thought in a million years that he will snap like that. It’s my fault.” Hope’s voice full of anguish broke a little.

“It’s not your fault. The only one responsible for what happened was that moron. M.G. and Rafael were feeling guilty too since they didn’t separate him from Josie earlier. I told them that we didn’t even know what’s going to happen. That maniac was the only one at fault here. “ Lizzie hold Hope’s hand, trying to assure her.

“I know. But I can’t even imagine what Josie felt and how afraid she was. Landon hurt her. He hurt her and I can’t even protect her.” Hope gritted her teeth in frustration.

“Stop it, Hope. Don’t blame yourself over things you can’t control. Now, I get why Landon was unstable last night, but why did he shouted at Josie?” Lizzie questioned Hope.

“I don’t even know! We didn’t even talk about Josie when we broke up. Yes, Landon constantly brought up Josie when we fought; he kept saying how I care about my friendship with Josie more than caring about my relationship with him. In a way, he looked like he was feeling threatened by Josie. But I swear we didn’t even fight about Josie yesterday when we broke up!”

“Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with him?!” Lizzie threw her hands up in anger.

A thought suddenly crossed Hope’s mind, what if Landon actually pieced together that Hope kissed Josie? Oh shit, then it might be her fault. Hope turned pale.

“Hey, you okay?”

“Lizzie, I might have an idea why Landon did it. Let me deal with him.” Hope was already so numb with rage and she was going to rain hell down on that boy. “I’m going to kill him, I swear.” Hope promised Lizzie. “Meanwhile, keep an eye for Josie for me, please? As soon as I’m done with Landon, I’ll go straight to your house. Is that okay? Will Josie talk to me?” she asked Lizzie.

“Of course she’ll talk to you. You might be the only one who could make her feel better.” Lizzie rolled her eyes but she was actually happy that her sister has someone like Hope by her side.

They both went out of the Mikaelson’s residence and before they separated Lizzie called out, “Hey Mikaelson, destroy him with all you got.”

“You got it, Saltzman.” Hope answered and turned around as she dialed Rafael to ask him on Landon’s where about.

“Hello, Rafael?” “Where’s Landon?” “Don’t lie.” “Where the fuck is he or I swear to god you won’t be able to step a foot in the field anymore.” “Okay. Don’t try any slightest attempt to warn him that I’m coming.” Hope hanged up the phone furiously. Rafael was trying to protect his foster brother but he knew what’s the better choice, protect his foster brother or face Hope’s wrath. He’s smart enough to just tell Hope the truth before Hope could destroy him along too.

Hope got on her motorbike and went straight to Landon’s house, she rang the bell but no one answered. She called Landon’s phone and when he picked up, Hope only said, “Get out.”

After a moment the door opened and Landon was looking at her calmly, “Hello, Hope. Are you realizing that you’re making a big mistake?”

“Shut the fuck up!” Hope shoved Landon’s chest.

Landon laughed at Hope’s anger, “Wow. Playing rough aren’t we?”

His behavior only enraged Hope more, “What the hell is wrong with you?!” she yelled at Landon. “Why did you attacked Josie yesterday?!”

Landon scoffed, “Here I thought you were regretting your decision, but you were defending that-“

Hope grabbed Landon by the collar and slammed him to the wall, she pressed the side of her arm to Landon’s neck, pinning him to the wall.

“Don’t. You. Dare.” Hope hissed as she controlled herself from punching Landon. “If you’re angry with the break up, lashed out at me, don’t take it out on my friend!”

“She’s the reason you broke up with me, isn’t she? She’s the one who kissed you at the party right?!” Landon raised his voice and Hope increased the pressure on his neck. “It’s easy to figure out. I think I knew from the first time I saw you, there was something going on between you two. I just pieced all the information you gave me. But I didn’t think that you actually chose her over me!” Landon said with disgust.

Hope was burning in anger and all she saw was red and she punched Landon with all of her might, she felt a sharp pang and a crack when her fist connected with Landon’s face. It hurts but it feels so damn good. “You don’t get to compare yourself with Josie!“ Hope grabbed Landon by the collar again and she was going to punch him again but then she paused, “You’re not worth it. Fuck you.” Hope released her grip on Landon and left him with a bloody face, whining in pain. He got what he deserved. Hope didn’t even look back at Landon when he started apologizing, Hope won’t fall for that again.

Hope drove straight to Josie’s house and Lizzie opened the door for her. Lizzie was actually surprised when Hope showed up and her eyes were like a madman, “How’s Josie?”

“Hey. Take a breather. She’s upstairs, she’s okay. Now, are you okay?” Lizzie inspected Hope from her head to toe, she looked at Hope’s bruised knuckles and how it still tremored from the shock.

Lizzie walked to the kitchen and went back with an ice pack and towel, “Here. Put that on.”

Hope quietly thanked Lizzie and put the ice pack on her knuckles, “Can I see her?” Hope asked impatiently.

“Drink some water first. She’s not going anywhere.” Lizzie chided and led Hope to the kitchen.

After sitting in silence for a while and drinking several glasses of water, Hope can feel herself calming down, “Okay, now can I see her?”

“I don’t know, can you?” Lizzie raised one of her eyebrow challengingly.

“Oh god! Lizzie!” Hope exclaimed exasperatedly.

“You’re not saying the right sentence, Hope.” Lizzie raised her finger at Hope.

“Urgh. Fine. _May_ I see her now?” Hope groaned.

“Nice job, Ms. Mikaelson. For your excellent grammar skill, I will allow you to see Josie now.” Lizzie moved out of Hope’s way as she held out her hand in direction of the stair.

Hope shook her head at Lizzie’s behavior and she can felt herself chuckling despite her previous anger, she smiled at Lizzie, “Thanks, Barbie.”

Then she went upstairs to Josie’s room. Hope knocked twice and slowly opened the door and stuck her head inside. “Hey.” She greeted Josie quietly. The girl was curling up in her blanket, watching something on her laptop.

“Hey!” Josie’s face lights up when she saw Hope and she closed her laptop and motioned Hope to sit with her on the bed.

“What you watching?” Hope asked Josie.

“Just some episodes of New Girl.” Josie answered then she noticed Josie’s right hand that’s wrapped with a towel. “Hey, what happened? Are you okay?” Josie’s face turned into worry.

“It’s nothing.” Hope tried to hide her hand so Josie won’t have to look at it but Josie’s hand was faster than hers. Josie grabbed a hold of Hope’s hand and unwrapped the towel. Hope’s hand was still shaking and her knuckles were slightly bruised and there was some blood on it.

Josie gasped, “Oh my god Hope. Wait here.” She got out of her room quickly and Hope can heard her went downstairs then came back up again. Josie returned with a first aid kit box and she knelt in front of Hope, gently taking Hope’s hand and removing the towel and the ice aside. Josie cleaned the blood from her hand with alcohol and Hope slightly winced as the alcohol stings the cut on her knuckles. Josie took an antiseptic and dabbed it gently to Hope’s knuckles then she took out an ointment for the bruise.

“Tell me what happened, Hope.” Josie demanded.

“It’s nothing, really. What’s more important is, are you okay? I heard what happened last night from Lizzie. I’m so sorry, Jo.” Hope placed her free hand on Josie’s cheek, making Josie looked at her.

Josie smiled, “Of course, I’m okay Hope. It’s not a big deal. Landon wasn’t thinking clearly. I’m so sorry about the breakup though.”

“No. You don’t get to defend him, Jo. He was being a total asshole last night; he didn’t have the right to do that to you. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you.” Hope frowned at her best friend’s reaction. “Don’t be sorry about the breakup. It’s not even your fault.”

“It’s okay. He’s just mad, Hope. And also, no harm done right? I’m okay.” Josie smiled.

“Josie, Lizzie told me and it didn’t seem that you were okay last night. Please, you can be honest with me, Jo.” Hope urged Josie as she stared intently into her chocolate brown eyes. “Being mad didn’t justify his actions toward you, Jo. Please, just tell me how you feel.”

Josie looked down and focused on treating Hope’s hand, “Okay, I’ll tell you how I feel but let me finish this first, okay?”

Hope nodded and she couldn’t be more in love with the girl in front of her. Her heart ached because she knew that Josie was still shocked with what happened yesterday, yet she was being strong and now she was taking care of Hope.

“All done.” Josie patted Hope’s hand that was now wrapped properly with a bandage.

“Thanks Jo. Now, it’s my turn, tell me how you feel, please.” Hope begged Josie to just be honest with her.

“Okay, but I have one more question for you. “ Josie took Hope’s bandaged hand and held it carefully, “Is this because of Landon?”

“Yes. I wasn’t meaning to lose control. I swear I’m not a violent person, Jo. But hearing what happened to you and then seeing his reaction, it’s too much, I can’t let him do that to you. I’m sorry, Jo. You must think that I’m—“

“Hey, hey, hey. Hope, listen to me.” Josie interrupted Hope softly as she brought Hope’s hand closer to her. “I know you’re not a violent person, okay? I just want to say thank you for defending me.” Josie spoke and she pressed her lips really lightly on Hope’s knuckles.

Hope’s heart felt like bursting out of her chest at the contact, it was a small gesture but it felt really intimate. “Of course, Jo. I’ll always defend you.” Hope replied gently. “Okay, so now it’s your turn, Jo. How are you feeling? Come here.” Hope raised Josie’s hand so she could get up and sat on the bed.

Josie’s head was hung low, “I was scared, Hope. I didn’t think that he will lash out at me that way. And he caught me off guard too so maybe that’s I’m kinda traumatized.” Josie spoke, her voice weak.

“Oh, love.” Hope embraced Josie tightly as she rubbed her back, “I’m so sorry Jo.”

“It’s not your fault, Hope. It’s just he said some things that I know isn’t true but I can’t help but replaying his words over and over again.” Josie explained.

Hope felt the anger rising again, how dare Landon hurt Josie like this. Hope should have done more than just broke his nose; she should just broke his whole face. “I swear Jo he will regret what he’s done to you.” Hope growled as she held Josie protectively in her arms.

“No, Hope. Please, don’t let this be a big problem. Just ignore him. He isn’t worth your time.” Josie begged Hope to hold back.

“I can’t promise you that. He hurt you, Jo.” Hope said with anger in her eyes, thinking on what she should do to the boy.

“Hope, no. I don’t want you to do that. Please just let it go. Promise me?” Josie looked up at Hope with her doe eyes.

“Ugh. I promise, I’ll let it go just this one time.” Hope at last gave in, “But if he tried anything to you again, I’ll make his life a living hell.”

Josie smiled warmly at Hope’s stern expression, she was just glad that she has a protective best friend like Hope and she was also a bit happy by the fact that Hope broke up with Landon. Although the event last night traumatized her a bit, the fact that Hope punched Landon to defend her made Josie felt better for the first time today. Josie just love how Hope always manage to make her feel better and the warmth of Hope’s embrace only make her fall in love more with her best friend. Josie sighed contentedly in Hope’s arms and wished that she could just tell Hope about her feelings but Josie remembered Penelope and how good and patient she has been all this time to Josie.

“Josie, I-“

Before Hope could finish her sentence, Josie’s phone rang and she picked up the call, it was of course, Penelope. Hope was reminded about her talk with Penelope and how she stupidly volunteered herself to ask Josie what’s been going on with her lately and tried to get her to go with Penelope on the trip. Hope sighed heavily as she heard Josie speaking with Penelope, she looked happy and excited.

“Is that Penelope?” Hope asked after Josie hanged up the phone.

“Yeah, you won’t believe what she asked me on the phone!” Josie exclaimed.

“Oh, what did she say?” Hope tried her best to sound curious.

“She asked me to go on a road trip with her and her cousins on summer!” Josie told Hope as she sat down beside Hope again.

“Oh wow that’s great! What did you say to her then?” Hope pretended to be excited because she actually already know this information.

“I said that I need to ask my mom first but it seemed that Penelope has asked her? And I said I need to think about it first.” Josie’s face then turned a bit grim.

“Why?” Hope questioned Josie and she realized a change of expression in Josie’s face, “What’s wrong Jo? You seem excited before.”

“Yeah I was excited, but then I remember, didn’t you invite me to New Orleans on summer?”

Oh god, Hope just remembered that stupid invitation. It was because of her aunts. Hope was telling Josie about her childhood memories in New Orleans and she told Josie about her family. Then Aunt Freya just blurted out that Josie could join them to New Orleans if she wanted to, and of course Josie said yes. But it was sometimes ago, Hope thought Josie has forgotten about it.

“Oh, I thought you forgot about it. I thought you were just humoring my dorky aunt.”

“How could I forget? I actually wanted to see your hometown, after hearing all those stories about the beignets and about the Mikaelson compound, of course I’m excited that I can go visit New Orleans with you.” Josie exclaimed.

Hope felt a bit guilty because Josie was really excited to go to New Orleans, honestly Hope herself forgot that they talked about it since it was long before summer. However, Hope has a promise to keep to Penelope, she need to convince Josie to go with Penelope. Or at least she needs to know why Josie’s been distant with Penelope. Hope didn’t want to admit it but Penelope actually treated Josie kindly and Josie is also happy with Penelope. So now Hope needs to set aside her feelings for a while, she just wanted the best for Josie.

The prospect of Josie coming with her to New Orleans really made Hope excited, she can’t stop herself from imagining her and Josie eating all the delicious beignets and fresh coffee together, bringing Josie to jazz bars every night, plus her family will like Josie, she’s sure of that. Hope was already planning their itinerary on New Orleans on her head when she remembered that she need to shove all of it back down and let it stay on her mind. She can’t do that to Josie and also Penelope. Even though it’s really hard for her, Hope put on an excited face and told Josie to go.

“Jo, New Orleans can wait. You should go with Penelope!” Hope urged her best friend even though her heart felt really heavy while saying it.

Josie’s expression was unreadable as she asked Hope, “Do you think so?”

“Yeah, I think you should go. I mean, when else will you go on a road trip with your girlfriend? Am I right?” Hope tried to convince Josie.

Josie looked disappointed when Hope said that and she directly turned her face away from Hope, trying to hide her disappointment.

“Hey, Jo. What is it? Shouldn’t you be excited?” Hope was confused by the younger girl’s reaction.

“No, it’s just…” Josie was trying hard to say something but she can’t seem to get the right words out of her mouth.

Hope took Josie’s hands on hers, “Josie, you can tell me everything. Is everything okay with Penelope?”

“Yeah, it’s going well,” Josie exhaled, “but I don’t think that I’m being a good girlfriend to her, Hope. I don’t think I deserve her.”

“Jo, look at me.” Hope lifted up Josie’s chin so she will look at Hope, her warm brown eyes are staring into Hope with a hint of sadness, “I don’t know what’s going on between you two. But I know that you are a great person and I don’t think that you should be so hard on yourself. Anybody would be lucky to have you in their life, in this case Penelope is very lucky to have you.” Hope said, her breath hitched, stopping herself from saying anything more than she should.

Josie didn’t answer Hope and they both stay in a comfortable silence for some moment and then Josie spoke softly as she pouted, “If I go, I might not spend any time with you in summer.”

In that moment, Hope wanted nothing more than to tell Josie to stay, to go to New Orleans with her and just forget the road trip with Penelope. Her selfish heart was longing to spend more time with the girl she loves but on the other hand she knew that she couldn’t do that to both Josie and Penelope. What Freya once said about loving a person came up again on her mind and Hope remembered that she should be able to be happy for the person she loved even though they weren’t together. Now, Hope has a choice to just told Josie how she felt and about their kiss or Hope could just kept her mouth shut and convinced Josie to go instead. Hope knew that Josie will be so much closer than ever with Penelope after the trip and that means Hope needs to let Josie go bit by bit.

And so, even it broke her heart, Hope took all of her might and forced herself to not say anything about her overwhelming feelings for her best friend. Instead Hope looked Josie in the eyes and said, “Josie, go with Penelope. Have fun with her. Please, don’t worry about the invitation to New Orleans, it can wait.”

Josie bit her lip and she leaned closer toward Hope and Hope tried her best to stop herself for giving in. She can’t do this again with Josie, she won’t do this. So Hope cleared her throat, “Uh and aren’t you tired of spending too much time with me?” she pulled herself away from Josie and chuckled toward her weak attempt in joking.

Josie looked like she just got out of a trance and she joined Hope on her laugh as she nudged Hope playfully, “Of course, I am tired. But how can you survive without me?” Josie raised her eyebrow, “But for real though, I might miss seeing you every day.” Josie confessed.

“Jo, I think you have been hanging out with my Aunt Freya for too long. You are starting to forget about a thing we called technology where we can inform each other about our updates and even see each other through our phone screens! It’s actually called texting and video-calling, if I’m not mistaken. How fascinating is that?” Hope rolled her eyes as she teased Josie.

“Hope!! You’re so annoying! I am starting to feel grateful that I didn’t decide to go to New Orleans with you.” Josie stuck her tongue out at Hope.

“Ouch, Jo!” Hope put a hand on her chest, pretending to be hurt over Josie’s remarks.

Then they both laughed at their silliness, “Hey, promise me, we’ll text every day? And maybe we could call each other sometimes?” Josie asked.

“Of course, Jo. You don’t even have to ask. You know how much my aunt will be dying to talk with you through the summer.” Hope grinned toward Josie.

“Okay then! So..I’ll tell Penelope that I’m going then..” Josie took out her phone slowly and started to text Penelope. “It’s done!” Josie then locked her phone and put it on her nightstand. “Hey, by the way, are you okay about the break up? I’m so sorry I didn’t even get to ask you this yesterday.”

Hope didn’t even remember that she break up with Landon yesterday, that’s just how insignificant that jerk is in her life right now. “Yeah, I’m okay, Jo. You shouldn’t be apologizing. It’s me who need to apologize for his behavior yesterday. I’m deeply sorry Jo, I wished that I could prevent it from happening.”

“Hope, I said stop apologizing, okay, it’s not your fault.” Josie interrupted Hope sternly.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry.” Hope raised her hands in surrender, “Oh dang. I’m apologizing again. Sorry for that. Ah dammit. Why am I rambling now?”

Josie chuckled at her best friend’s demeanor, “How are you feeling Hope? Was it a messy break up? Did he hurt you?” Josie asked and her tone changed into a serious note.

“I’m okay. I’m mad and not even sad about any of it. He didn’t hurt me, Jo.” Hope said as she frowned remembering that instead of her, Josie was the one who got hurt by that moron. “I’m furious that he was delusional about our relationship all this time and I’m truly mad that he hurt you, Jo.”

Josie looked at her best friends’ face with concern and she gave Hope a hug, “Hey, I’m glad that you’re okay. And please just ignore him. I don’t want you to get hurt. He’s not worth your time, Hope.” She said as she stroked Hope’s back soothingly. Hope smiled contentedly in Josie’s embrace, being like this with Josie is enough for her, as long as Josie’s happy, Hope will also be happy. Suddenly, Hope’s phone chimed and she checked the notification, it was a text from Penelope.

**_From: Penelope_ ** _  
hey, Josie just texted me, she’s going on the trip! Wow, idk what you said to her but thank you! I owe you one, Mikaelson._

Hope smiled sadly at the text and just replied it with an “A-OK” emoji. She knew that she was doing the right thing but why does it have to be this hard?

* * *

Not long after all the drama with Landon, summer break has arrived and thank god until this moment, Landon didn’t bother Hope or Josie anymore. Rafael was still acting nervously toward Hope and Josie even though they both have talked to him that he didn’t need to feel guilty about what happened. The only person responsible of his action was Landon himself. After all of the hectic exams and assignments at the end of the term, summer break was here and it’s time for Josie to go on the road trip.

Hope and Josie compared their schedule and it seems that Josie will leave from the first day of the break and she will go for a week. And by the time Josie returned, Hope will already be gone to New Orleans. They were both disappointed at the fact that they won’t be seeing each other for most of the summer but Hope managed to persuade her aunts to let her come home earlier than they planned. Both of her aunts actually needed to stay for a while in New Orleans because of their work. Aunt Freya is opening a new bar with Vincent, her best friend in New Orleans and the bar will be managed by Josh, a close friend of Hope’s family. While on the other side, Aunt Keelin will be helping Hope’s mom family, the Labonairs, on expanding and upgrading their local clinics. That’s why they were going to stay for almost two months in New Orleans.

At first, both of her aunts are worried to leave her for another month alone in Mystic Falls, but after some bargaining and also mentioning that she will spend a lot of time with Josie, her aunts seemed to slowly change their mind and at last they allowed Hope to return a month earlier. Hope rolled her eyes at her aunts, especially Aunt Freya when they changed their minds when they heard that Josie will be taking care of her, they were really worried that Hope can’t feed herself if she’s alone. How dare they think that! However, Hope knew that her aunts were just really worried about her and she was really grateful for their attention and love.

And so on the first day of summer break, Hope watched Josie left with Penelope. She hugged Josie tightly, knowing that it will be a month without meeting her best friend almost every day. Josie hugged her back and whispered, “Take care of yourself. And if you don’t bring home that heavenly beignets and coffee you that you kept gushing about, don’t bother to call me.”

Hope laughed at Josie’s ‘threat’ and she pinched Josie’s cheek, “Have fun, Jo. I’ll miss you so much.” Then she let go of Josie and watched her drive off with Penelope and her cousins. Hope is kinda proud of herself that she could hold back her feelings this long. Although it takes all of her self-control to do that, she is glad that she didn’t ruin things between Josie and Penelope. Josie deserved the best and if Penelope is the best for her then so be it. Hope’s willing to stand the heartache for Josie’s happiness. The space between her and Josie now make her heart hurts a bit but Hope started to think that it will be good for her because she needed to let go of Josie.

* * *

Going on the trip on Penelope is actually fun and Josie could find herself having fun with Penelope and her cousins. Everything is going well, Josie is still guilt-ridden about her kiss with Hope, but it is slowly starting to decrease. Josie decided to try her best to be a good girlfriend for Penelope since she’s been doing so to Josie.

Penelope kissed her for the first time when they were stargazing in the middle of a hill. Josie was nervous when Penelope leaned it but she also leaned in; when their lips touched, all Josie could think about was how Hope’s lips taste of scotch the night they kissed. When Penelope pulled back, Josie can’t help but feel the guilt creeping back inside her and Josie was relieved that it was dark so Penelope couldn’t see her expression.

“How was it?” Penelope asked her.

Josie tried to force a smile, “Amazing.” Josie answered but she felt bitter because she knew she was lying to her girlfriend and Penelope thought that it was Josie’s first kiss while it actually isn’t. Thankfully, Penelope didn’t say anything more and she just hold Josie’s hand while they went back to stargazing.

Josie texted with Hope daily and updated her about interesting foods she tasted or wonderful places she visited. They kept texting each other and Josie was struggling whether or not to tell Hope about her kiss with Penelope. It will be weird if Josie didn’t tell her right? They told each other things and Josie was only feeling weird because she is the only one who knows that Penelope wasn’t her first kiss. So Josie typed up a short text to Hope.

**_To: Wolf Hopey_ **   
_Umm….guess what, Penelope just kissed me while we were stargazing…._

Oddly enough, Hope didn’t reply at Josie’s text until the morning. Usually Hope texted Josie back directly and it made Josie felt a bit weird, is it too much information to share to Hope? The next morning, Hope answered to Josie’s text.

**_From: Wolf Hopey_ **   
_wow! your first kiss! happy for you! *heart-eyed emoji*_

Josie then only texted her with a GIF of an embarrassed girl and then she went back to having her breakfast with Penelope. Josie promised herself not to text Hope too much because she was starting to feel guilty again about her kiss with Hope.

Josie returned home after a week and she was actually really happy that she could visit all those beautiful places and ate delicious foods with Penelope and her cousins. Plus, Josie felt really comfortable around them, Penelope’s cousins are all friendly and they treated Josie as their own so Josie really loved everything about the road trip. However, it seems to just amplify her guilt toward Penelope. She’s been so loving and kind toward Josie but Josie is still keeping something from her.

If Josie told Penelope this, it will ruin their relationship but what she’s doing to Penelope is unfair. Josie is acting like a jerk if she kept lying toward Penelope about her kiss with Hope. Moreover, Josie can’t lie to herself anymore because she kept thinking about Hope all the time.

On her road trip, she saw some things and she was reminded of Hope and the worst part was when Penelope kissed her, Josie can’t stop thinking about Hope’s soft lips on hers. It was driving her crazy but that’s the truth, Josie can’t stop thinking about her best friend whom she’s pathetically in love with. Oh god, how should she tell Penelope? They were actually in a good place now and they were starting to be more in sync with each other after the trip. What should Josie do?

At least, Josie was somewhat relieved that Hope is already in New Orleans when she returned. If she saw Hope, Josie didn’t know if she’ll able to suppress her feelings toward the older girl anymore because it seems all she did is think about Hope.

Now, Josie has roughly about three weeks to decide what she’s going to do with her feelings before Hope returns from New Orleans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can you believe what happened?!?! omg guys please tell me what you think!!! i'm excited to hear from you all!  
> please, any feedbacks, comments, rants and even swearings are allowed in the comments!  
> is it too much drama and angst in a chapter? oh and please do imagine if i didn't divide this chapter with the last one, it will be a chaotic rollercoaster ride of a chapter filled with drama. and i think i should spare you from reading my crazy writings in one whole chapter so hence, the two chapters for this section.  
> hope you guys enjoyed it and satisfied with what i did to the birdboy :D  
> as always, thank you for those who leave kudos, comments and bookmarks. i appreciate you guys! see you next thursday! <3


	13. the only thing I wanna do is make it up to you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Josie had a talk with Penelope meanwhile Hope is still in New Orleans. Josie has come up with a decision and she is gathering up her courage to do it. So, what would Josie do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! i'm sorry for the delayed update since I was finishing up on the Hosie christmas one shot last Thursday. Please do check it out if you haven't. So now let me make it up to you guys by giving you this update earlier because I was planning to post this chapter next Thursday. But here it is! And as usual, I was only planning to make a 3-4k words chapter but my brain told me the opposite so I ended up with this 6.5k words chapter! I hope you're happy with the chapter.   
> Plus there will be a surprise appearance from a character and I'm excited to have you guys read it!   
> Without further ado, enjoy! <3

**_Betty, I'm here on your doorstep  
And I planned it out for weeks now but  
It's finally sinking in  
Betty, right now is the last time  
I can dream about what happens when you see my face again  
The only thing I wanna do  
Is make it up to you_ **

After coming home from the road trip, Josie felt closer and more comfortable with Penelope but at the same time her guilt was also growing. Josie knew that it’s unfair for Penelope if she kept doing this to her but Josie just didn’t know how to break the news. Every time Penelope touched and kissed her, Josie will always think about Hope and she will feel guilty. The cycle keeps repeating on and on until one day Josie can’t do it anymore. She needed some times to clear her head and think about all of the things that have been going on. So she turned off her phone and grabbed her car keys and just drove around the city to get some clarity.

Josie asked Lizzie for a favor to just make up some elaborate excuses for her parents and also Penelope to why she went AWOL for the day. Hope texted her in the morning before Josie turned off her cellphone but Josie decided to ignore it because she couldn’t think clearly if she kept messaging Hope. And now Josie was driving around Mystic Falls and she ended up in the café where Hope brought her to see Witches Dispatch on her birthday. Josie smiled fondly at the memory but she quickly reminded herself that she will keep thinking about Hope if she went inside. So she kept driving through the hills and found herself once again on the lake where Hope brought her. Josie cursed her stupid brain for always unconsciously thinking about Hope even when she didn’t want to.

Josie then parked the car and she decided to sit by the lake and stare at the wonderful view in front of her. Admiring the beautiful scenery seems to help her clear her mind and she really enjoyed the quiet. Josie took a deep breath and released it slowly, doing her meditation to calm her mind and heart. After doing so, Josie turned her phone on just to tell Lizzie her location because she was being so overprotective when Josie wanted to wander off alone. Josie loves her twin, she really does but for today, Josie needs to think alone.

As soon as Josie turned her cellphone on, several notifications entered her phone, there are texts from Lizzie, Hope and Penelope. Lizzie was freaking out because it seems that Josie has been driving around for about two hours before settling down on a place so she could text Lizzie. Penelope only texted Josie to ask if she was okay, Josie frowned because it seems that Penelope has an intuition for her feelings. And Hope sent her a good morning text and a picture of beignets and coffee which were her breakfast. The first thing Josie wanted to do was to reply Hope’s message with the picture of the lake but Josie stopped herself from opening Hope’s text and she sticks only on replying her twin.

Then Josie tried listing the pro and cons about her situation, making lists is one way for her to reach a hard decision. If Josie didn’t say anything toward Penelope, the good thing is she could still be a good girlfriend to Penelope and she will have a stable relationship with a loving girlfriend. However, the bad thing about that is, Josie is lying not only to herself but to Penelope and of course it will ruin their relationship forever, because sooner or later Penelope could find out. Now, if Josie broke up with Penelope and tell her the truth, the negative side will be Josie breaking Penelope’s heart while Penelope has been so good to her and Josie didn’t know whether if Penelope will forgive her for it. And the positive side is Josie won’t be involved in any complicated feelings anymore. Yes, Josie will still have her feelings for Hope but she won’t feel guilty anymore about any of it.

Josie huffed at the mental list she made on her mind, looks like both of her decision have the same amount of damage and benefit resulted by it. However, Josie already knew deep down in her heart that telling Penelope the truth and breaking up with her is the right thing to do. But why does it make her sad and scared? Josie feared that Penelope will be so mad at her and she knew what Penelope can do when she’s mad. A part of Josie really wanted to love Penelope and to be content with what she has but Josie just can’t do it. Hope Mikaelson is occupying her mind and her heart. It was actually naïve and stupid for Josie to think that she could try moving on from Hope by dating Penelope. Josie felt terrible because she was the one who made the choice to date Penelope and she was just setting up Penelope for a broken heart.

Her mom and dad always told her to accept consequences no matter how hard it is and running away from it only will make things worse, so Josie decided to accept the consequences of her choices. She needed to make this right, she needed to the right thing even when it hurts. It’s a hard choice but it was a fair one, she can’t string along Penelope any further, not when Penelope believed that she was Josie’s first kiss, it was cruel for Josie to do that. As Josie got lost deep in her thoughts she didn’t realize that tears were falling from her eyes. She wiped her tears furiously because she knew well that she was the one who caused all of this. Josie knew what she needs to do now and it actually hurts her, she loves Penelope, she does, but not in the way Penelope loves her. It’s crazy and cruel how fate was playing with their feelings, why did people fall in love with the ones they can’t have?

Josie can felt her tears streaming down uncontrollably, waves of guilt, frustration and aches are stirring up inside her. How should she tell Penelope the truth when Penelope always looks at her with kind eyes and warm smile? But this is the right thing to do, it’s Josie owning her mistake and telling Penelope that she actually deserve better. So Josie took a deep breath and exhaled shakily as she opened her phone and texted Penelope.

Josie decided to meet Penelope at the park in the evening and Josie felt really guilty when Penelope asked her why they don’t just meet at the Grill so they could grab some dinner together. Josie really didn’t want to make things even harder than this, meeting at the Grill wouldn’t be a good place to break up with Penelope, there might be a lot of people there and Josie was sure that she would cry, so she avoided meeting at the Grill. The park is a good choice since they could talk peacefully and it might give them some privacy. Josie knew some secluded areas in the park so told Penelope to meet her at one of the area. Her heart was heavy and she felt nauseous since Penelope agreed to meet.

A lot of questions and scenarios ran through Josie’s mind. Will Penelope be mad? What will she do to Josie? Will Penelope hat e her? Ugh, of course she will. What Josie did to Penelope was terrible and she deserved the consequences if Penelope won’t talk to her anymore. Josie prepared herself for the worst and she just hoped that she could get through the night without chickening out and fled from Penelope instead.

Josie arrived early at the park and she bought drinks for her and Penelope, Josie got a latte for herself and peppermint mocha for Penelope. She was staring blankly at the statue in front of her, lost in her thought when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Is this where you’re going to kidnap me and kill me?” Penelope whispered behind her.

Josie was startled at her voice and she yelped, “Oh my god! You scared me!” Josie exclaimed she brought her hand to her chest.

“Sorry, babe. It’s just so fun messing with you.” Penelope circled back to the bench so she can sit and gave Josie a peck.

Josie can felt the dread seeping in slowly and she forced herself to smile when Penelope kissed her, “Hey, Pen. Thanks for coming.”

“Of course. When my cute girlfriend asked me to meet her, of course I would come. Even if it means I could end up tied and gagged in a cabin in the middle of nowhere.” Penelope stuck her tongue at Josie and put an arm around her shoulder.

“Ha ha. Real funny.” Josie pretended to laugh dryly at Penelope’s serial killer joke. “I wouldn’t be this stupid if I wanted to kidnap you, I’d knock you out and put you at my car’s baggage rather than bringing you here first.” She rolled her eyes as she play along.

“Oh babe. I thought you love me.” Penelope frowned as she pretended to be hurt.

Josie instantly can’t laugh anymore when she heard Penelope’s remark. Her face tensed up and her smile was replaced by a slight frown.

“JoJo, what’s wrong?” Penelope questioned Josie at her sudden change of demeanor, “Oh god. I’m sorry I must freak you out by what I said before. I didn’t really mean that, you know. I was just playing around. I-I don’t expect you to l-love me…” Penelope said as she stuttered a bit, clearly nervous of Josie’s tense expression.

Josie can’t directly answer Penelope because she frankly didn’t know how to start, she didn’t know how to tell Penelope that she might be in love with her best friend all this time. How is Josie supposed to break the news without breaking Penelope’s heart? All these times, Penelope has been so good and caring toward Josie but Josie decided to repay her with this cruel information? That really sucks for both of them and Josie just hoped she has enough courage and energy to push through with the break up. As bad as it is to tell Penelope the truth, it will be worse if Josie only stayed quiet and keep on leading Penelope to think that their relationship is still going well.

“Nothing’s wrong. It’s not about what you said, Pen.” Josie kept her head down as she answered Penelope softly, “It’s just…” Josie can’t continue what she’s going to say next.

“Hey,” Penelope grabbed her hand gently, “Whatever it is, you can tell me, Jo.”

Josie huffed and handed Penelope her drink as she took a sip from her own latte. She knew what she should say but it’s very hard for words to come out of her mouth. Penelope thanked her and also took a sip from her drink then she went back to look at Josie.

“I-I need to tell you something,” Josie said with a small voice as she exhaled shakily.

Penelope waited patiently for Josie to continue talking; Josie opened her mouth and closed it again because she didn’t know how to put all of her thoughts into words. Josie felt like crying because Penelope was looking at her softly with a smile, encouraging her to continue.

“That’s okay, Jo. Take your time.” Penelope still smiled at Josie and gave her hand a squeeze.

After a few deep breaths Josie mustered up enough nerves and she took a sharp inhale, “I’m sorry but we need to break up.” Her voice was so low, it’s barely a whisper, but everything was quiet. Josie’s sure that Penelope heard her even though Josie sounded like a person who almost lost their voice. Silence filled the atmosphere and instead of feeling relieved after saying those words, Josie felt more guilty and anxious toward the girl beside her.

“Okay…” Penelope at last break the silence between them.

Wait, what? Is Josie hearing the wrong thing? Did Penelope just said ‘okay’?

“I’m sorry, what?” Josie can’t help but turned her head toward Penelope.

The raven-haired girl was looking at her with sad eyes, “I said, okay.”

Josie can’t believe it. Did Penelope really agree peacefully at their break-up? Why isn’t she mad? Why isn’t she shouting at Josie for being a horrible girlfriend?

“A-are you okay with this?” Josie asked Penelope, unsure of her reaction.

“Of course not,” Penelope let out a soft chuckle.

“So why aren’t you mad at me? Why aren’t you cursing me right now?” Josie asked, desperate to get all the consequences she deserved.

“What good will it does? Will you take back your words if I get mad at you?” Penelope countered her questions with her own.

“No… I’m sorry,” Josie answered as she apologized again.

“That’s okay, Josie.” Penelope told Josie in a comforting tone.

Josie now felt really guilty because Penelope didn’t even try to stop her decision and she didn’t even get mad that Josie was asking for a breakup out of the blue. “Pen…I’m so sorry but the thing is, I haven’t been completely honest with you and it’s eating me up because I know I’m being unfair to you.” Josie paused as she tried to compose herself.

Penelope didn’t answer Josie but she only nodded along at Josie’s words. Josie took a deep breath and started talking again, “I think I’ve been in love with another person all this time.” Josie confessed, “I am so so sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I kept denying the fact and I didn’t want to make things complicated.”

“It’s Hope, isn’t it?” Penelope asked Josie softly.

“I am truly sorry. I’m so sorry, Pen.” Josie felt tears started rolling down her eyes when she heard the mention of Hope’s name. “I kissed her at the night of the celebration party. I’m sorry.” Josie hung her head low as she wiped the tears that started to come out of her eyes.

“Josie, look at me.” Penelope said calmly as she put her hand on top of Josie’s. Josie lifted her head and her eyes met Penelope’s, she can’t bear looking at Penelope’s eyes that are full of hurt but she was still smiling at Josie.

“You know, I actually noticed something between you and Hope when I first asked you out, I had the chance to not go further to stop myself from risking my heart, but I decided, why not try it out, maybe you could change your feelings.” Penelope told Josie, “But, as I know you more, I realize that I was fooling myself if I think that you could return my feelings but I was too selfish to let you go, Jo. I knew deep down in my heart that we won’t work but each time I see you, I kept assuring myself that maybe things will be different. I knew about your feeling toward Hope but I kept pushing through and I tried to ignore all the fears I have about your feelings toward Hope.”

Josie didn’t know how to reply to Penelope’s confession. So she actually noticed Josie’s feeling toward Hope but she never said anything? Now it just crushed Josie more because she thought that she hid her feelings well.

“Pen…I want you to know that I love you, I really do. But…”

“But not in the way you love Hope…”

“Yeah…”

Josie sniffled because she really felt the guilt washing over her again and again, the pain in Penelope’s eyes reminded her of how cruel she has been toward Penelope. “I really don’t know what to say to you, Pen. You’ve been good to me. You’ve been patient, kind and loving and decided to repay you with this. I just think it might be better if you hate me and shout at me because I deserve it, all of it.”

“Jo, please stop apologizing. This was also the result of my choice too. I was the one who choose to pursue you and I was the one who pushed through and asked you to be my girlfriend. Let’s just stop at the blame game, okay?” Penelope requested. “Stop beating yourself up, you’re not a horrible person and I could understand what you did even it hurt me.”

“I just thought that I wasn’t being fair to you if I keep lying to you. I really hope that you can find someone better than me, Pen. You’re pretty, kind, caring and considerate and whoever have you will be very lucky. Just please, forgive me for all of this.” Josie told Penelope as she tried to stop the tears that are threatening to come out again.

“Thank you for telling me the truth, Jo. Even if it hurts, I know that you mean well. Of course, I forgive you, Jo.” Penelope accepted Josie’s apology. “Can I have one request though?”

“What is it?” Josie asked her curiously.

“Let’s keep being friends. Yes, I might need you to give me some space after this but I really like talking with you and being your friend. So, if it’s not bothering you, can we still be friends?” Penelope asked shyly.

Josie’s tears burst out again from her eyes; she can’t believe Penelope’s response that was so different from what she thought it will be. Of course Josie still wanted to be friends with Penelope, she cared about the girl and it was more than what Josie expected will happen. It’s more than enough for her. “Of course we can be friends. I was actually the one who needs to ask you that, Pen. I really care about you and I am in awe with your patience and response through all of this. Because truthfully, I didn’t deserve you treating me this well after the breakup, I thought you would hate me…”

“I could never hate you, JoJo. Yes, I can be mad at you but why did I have to do that? It wouldn’t be beneficial for any of us. Sure, this hurts but at least we get our own truths and that’s better than us believing in things we imagined for ourselves.”

“Thank you, Pen…I’m really sorry once again and I will give you space as long as you wanted. Please come find me anytime you’re ready and I swear I won’t let you down as my friend.” Josie solemnly promised Penelope, she was feeling really touched of Penelope’s response.

Penelope then gave Josie a kiss on the forehead and a hug, “Thank you JoJo, for telling me the truth.” Tears started to roll down her eyes even though she was trying really hard to hold it in. She got up and wiped her tears, “Good bye, JoJo.”

“Good bye, Pen…” Josie whispered with a soft voice as she hold back her tears. After walking a few steps, Penelope turned her head back toward Josie, “JoJo, for what it’s worth, I think you should tell Hope how you feel instead keeping it all inside.” Then she gave Josie a warm smile as she turned back and walk out of the park.

Josie can’t stop crying and she was relieved that she was done with her break-up. It really hurt her seeing Penelope that way and it also pained her to do that but at the same times Josie felt an overflowing relief that it actually went well. Penelope’s response was a response Josie didn’t deserve and she promised herself not to take it for granted and she hoped that they could actually still be friends after all this that’s happening. Now, things are less complicated.

* * *

Meanwhile in New Orleans, Hope was eating her beignets and sipping her coffee and she frowned because she kept thinking about how Josie will like it very much if she was here with her. Being in New Orleans didn’t turn out to give her the desired space away from Josie, instead Hope kept thinking about the younger girl. They texted everyday but not intensely, usually one of them will greet good morning and then they sent pictures of what they’re doing for the day. Hope actually promised herself not to directly reply Josie’s texts because she wanted this time for her to try to move on from Josie. Plus, it didn’t get better when Josie texted her that Penelope kissed her on the trip.

The text only made Hope thought about her kiss with Josie again. It only made her heart hurts thinking of how it felt so good but it probably could never happen again. It surely felt like a dream when Hope thought about it again, she can remembered it clearly, it was perfect and everything she wanted but in the end Hope’s the only one who could remembered it as she woke up in a reality where she will never have Josie. She sighed heavily at her stupid feelings that kept torturing her. Hope knew she should be happy that Josie ‘s happy with Penelope and that Penelope is treating her well but her heart kept aching and when her brain unconsciously thought of Josie, it only made the heartache worse.

As Hope was drowning in her angst, a figure was approaching her and sat across of her.

“Looks like you have perfected the Mikaelson brooding style, dearest niece.”

Hope was startled because she didn’t even realize that another person was joining her on the table. She instantly light up when she saw who it was.

“Aunt Bex!” Hope got out of her seat and hugged her aunt tightly, “I missed you so much!”

“So do I, love, so do I,” she chuckled and returned Hope’s hug, “you’ve gotten prettier since I last saw you, come on we need to have a day out!”

“Stop it,” Hope blushed at her Aunt’s compliment, “When did you arrive Auntie Bex? And why didn’t I know that you were coming?”

“Of course it wouldn’t be fun if I showed up without a surprise, wouldn’t it?” Rebekah winked playfully at her niece. She was actually planning to come and see Hope even if it was just for a while despite her hectic schedule when she heard that her niece will be spending a month in New Orleans. Rebekah loves Hope like her own daughter because she took care of Hope for a year when Klaus and Hayley were securing their business and places in New Orleans.

Most of the Mikaelsons were receiving death threats back then because they were re-building their business right in the middle of other powerful, growing business and other companies felt threatened by their emerging presence in New Orleans. So Klaus and Hayley decided to keep Hope away from it all first by asking Rebekah to take care of her in their summer house. When Klaus and Hayley passed away, Rebekah wanted to be the one to take care of Hope again, but she needed to deal with the Mikaelson’s business in several countries. Rebekah then with a heavy heart decided that she couldn’t take care of Hope since her condition will need Hope to move frequently with her and she wanted nothing more than stability for her only niece since Rebekah knew how hard it was to be the new girl who kept moving from one place to another. So Rebekah asked Freya and Keelin to be Hope’s legal guardians.

“Let me change my clothes and we’ll go, okay?” Hope smiled widely at her aunt because from all her aunts and uncles, she rarely sees Aunt Bex because of her role in the company that required her to spend most of her time abroad.

Hope quickly changed her clothes and practically sprinted downstairs because she was really excited to spend a day with her aunt. “Let’s go, Auntie Bex!”

Rebekah smiled fondly at her excited niece, “Let’s go, littlest wolf.” she put her arm around Hope’s shoulder as they walked on the street. They both went inside a boutique and Rebekah directly picked some clothes for Hope to try on. Hope didn’t really like shopping but she knows that it’s her aunt’s favorite thing so she tries on the clothes and entered one boutique into another.

They were carrying a lot of shopping bags when Rebekah suggested they stopped by a coffee shop. Hope sat down and sighed in exhaustion, Rebekah didn’t look tired and she just grinned happily, how is it even possible for her aunt to not be tired at all? Hope just shake her head and smiled at her at excited aunt. After their drinks and snacks were on their table, Hope began munching joyfully at the food, she sipped her peanut butter milkshake but it doesn’t taste as good as the Grill’s shake.

“So… what’s bothering you, love?” Rebekah asked Hope out of the blue as she munched on her fries.

“What do you mean, Aunt Bekah?” Hope pretended to be confused.

“First, you were brooding when I found you and second, I noticed that you seemed a bit off along our shopping spree.” Rebekah explained.

“Nah, it’s just something I have to deal with back home.” Hope told her aunt.

“Is it something or someone?” Rebekah asked as she raised an eyebrow toward Hope.

Hope rested her chin on her hand and sighed, before she can answer, Rebekah was smiling mischievously, “You’re in love aren’t you? Tell me everything!” she exclaimed with excitement.

“Ugh.” Hope buried her face with her hands, “I don’t know Aunt Bex. Yeah, I think I’m in love but it’s all meaningless. There’s nothing to tell you. The person I’m in love with didn’t love me, I tried to make my peace with it but lately I kept thinking about the person. It sucks.” Hope frowned.

“Oh my, would you look at that, our littlest wolf has grown up!” Rebekah exclaimed loudly and patted Hope’s head gently.

“Nooo Aunt Bex you’re just like Aunt Freya, you both are embarrassing me. I don’t want to talk about it.” Hope pouted.

“Hey, why you gotta be so mean to your favorite aunt? Come on, tell me more about it love. I might know a thing or two about unrequited love.” Rebekah said as she smiled sadly.

“Promise no teasing or embarrassing me?” Hope raised her right pinky finger toward her aunt.

Rebekah linked her pinky finger with Hope and laughed, “Of course I won’t! So tell me, who is it? Wait, wait don’t tell me I want to guess!” Rebekah changed her mind as she thought about information she has heard previously that could indicate the person Hope was talking about.

Rebekah’s face then contorted into disgust after thinking for a while, “Hope… don’t tell me it was the weird boy that Freya said looked like a bird?”

Hope burst out laughing at her aunt’s reaction, “Oh god, of course not, Aunt Bekah!” she shake her head strongly, “He’s long gone. I broke up with him as soon as I realized that I didn’t really like him. The relationship was starting to turn toxic and thank god I broke up with him before it could get more complicated.” Hope said as she thought about Landon and how she’s still furious with him for what he did.

“Oh thank god.” Rebekah sighed with relief, “I didn’t hear much from Freya but it sounded like he was not suited for you. Good riddance then.”

“Yeah, I guess…” Hope said as she clenched her fist because the thought of Landon angered her.

“Hey what is it? I thought you said that you’re the one who break up with him but why do you look upset? Or dare I say…mad?” Rebekah asked with uncertainty.

“Well…the break up didn’t go as well as I thought it would be.” Hope told her aunt, “And the worst thing was he hurt a person I cared about. I’m not even sad about the breakup, I’m just so mad. I actually punched him.” Hope dropped her head in shame of her outburst.

“I assume that this person you care about is the one you’re in love with?” Rebekah tilted her head hearing Hope’s story.

“Yeah… I felt terrible Aunt Bex, she doesn’t deserve it but she got hurt because of me. I was supposed to protect her.” Hope felt helpless once again when she remembered the moment when she found out that Landon hurt Josie.

Rebekah looked at her niece with concern and she saw how her niece love this person she was talking about and it reminded her of her late brother. Rebekah felt herself almost tearing up because Hope was so alike with Klaus when dealing with the person they love. “Don’t beat yourself up over it, Hope. I’m sure that the person also wouldn’t blame you for what happened.”

“But still… I felt really bad, I should’ve known.” Hope gritted her teeth and felt like she’s reliving what happened again.

“Hey love, calm down.” Rebekah put her hand on Hope’s, comforting her, “Take a deep breath. Regretting on what happened in the past will only bring you down.”

Hope inhaled deeply and exhaled but her eyes are still filled with sadness, Rebekah knew that her niece was feeling really guilty over what happened and just from this exchange with Hope, Rebekah knew that her niece love this person, whoever it is, very much.

“Hold on… I think I know the person!” Rebekah lit up as a smile crept into her face, how could she be so blind, she actually has known the answer all along. “I’m sure that I’ll guess it right!”

“Okay?” Hope raised her eyebrow toward her aunt, expecting for an answer.

“It’s your best friend, Josie, right?” Rebekah guessed and her eyes are shining brightly.

Hope didn’t answer but she just let out a smile and Rebekah didn’t need an answer anymore judging on her niece’s reaction.

“Sorry for taking so long to guess although the answer’s been in front of my eyes all this time. Silly me!” Rebekah rolled her eyes cheered slightly because she got the correct answer.

“Why did you say that, Aunt Bex? Am I that obvious?” Hope asked, her eyes wide with surprise that her aunt could guess it so easily.

“Hmm… I was just concluding things from the information I heard here and there.” She winked at her niece. “I like her, your friend.” Rebekah added with a nod.

“When did you even meet her?” Hope asked confusedly.

“I met her once when I was visiting Mystic Falls and she often showed up when we did video-call. Isn’t that right?”

“Oh, I forget that you’ve met her.” Hope smiled sheepishly.

“I think she cares about you a lot, Hope. I see it in her eyes and the way she talks to you. Why in the world would you think that she didn’t love you back?” Rebekah questioned Hope about her worry.

“She has a girlfriend and I might help them go on a road trip together this summer. She was supposed to come to New Orleans with me but instead I insisted that she should just go with her girlfriend on the road trip.” Hope explained with a lot of angst in her voice.

“Oh god, what is it with us Mikaelsons and selfless acts of love that resulted in angst?” Rebekah sighed exasperatedly. “By this point I’m not surprised anymore with what you did. Your dad, your mom, your Uncle Elijah, your Aunt Freya and even I have had our shares of experience with it.”

“So what should I do now?” Hope frowned because her aunt’s answers didn’t actually help her.

“Well… I know it sucks… and I wouldn’t say that it doesn’t hurt. It hurts like hell. And what we can do now is move on.” Rebekah said softly with a hint of sadness in her voice.

“I-I don’t think I can…” Hope’s voice cracked as she tried holding back her tears.

“I know it seems really hard right now. But you can take your time, you decide with your own pace when you will move on, you’re the one who will make all the choices. Take it one day at a time and don’t beat yourself up for it, love. We all need time.” Rebekah gave Hope’s hand a light squeeze, “And if you need someone to talk to, just remember I’m a phone call away.”

“Thank you, Aunt Bekah…” Hope squeezed back and smiled at her aunt. Hope knew that her aunt understand what she’s going through because she sacrificed her happiness and relationship with Marcel to take care of the family’s business and now Marcel is engaged with another woman and Rebekah let him go thinking that it would be the best for him.

“Anytime, love.” Rebekah gave Hope a warm smile, “Okay, when did this take a depressing turn for us? So, Hope tell me how you beat down that jerk of an ex, tell me all about it! And don’t leave out any details, I’ve done worse!” Rebekah changed the topic other than her niece’s unrequited love.

Hope chuckled then she told recounted the event to her aunt, Rebekah was reacting emotionally toward all the things happening and by the end of Hope’s story where she punched Landon and left him with a broken nose, Rebekah was smiling proudly at her niece.

“I’m so proud of you, Hope Mikaelson.” She beamed with pride and clapped at Hope. “That guy deserved more than a broken nose.”

“Yeah, but he isn’t worth it.” Hope told her aunt and she laughed at her aunt’s response.

“I know, I know.” Rebekah waved her hand along, “If I were there I’d make the boy disappear.” She snapped her finger, “Just like that.”

Hope didn’t know if her aunt was joking or not because she was smiling suspiciously, there might be a possibility that Aunt Rebekah had succeeded in making somebody disappear. Suddenly Hope’s phone rang, it was Aunt Freya.

“Hello, Aunt Freya?” “Yeah, I’m in a café. What’s up?” “Okay, what time?” “Uh-huh. Alright. I’ll be there. And I have a special guest.” “No, it’s not her. Just wait for us, okay?” “Yeah, see you. Love you.”

Hope hanged up her phone and looked at Rebekah in disbelief, “Aunt Freya didn’t know you were here??”

Rebekah laughed, “Nope. You’re the first one to know. I think nobody knows yet I’m back in town.”

Hope then smiled mischievously with an idea, “Auntie Bex, how about we gave the family a surprise? Aunt Freya was telling me to come to dinner at the bar and she doesn’t know yet about you. She thought that it was Josie who came here.” Hope’s voice deflated a bit but she continued, “Let’s give them a surprise shall we?”

“I’m in!” Rebekah said excitedly because one of her favorite thing is making a grand entrance and she knew that the rest of her family will be surprised that she’s back in town since she didn’t actually planned her visit.

They both high-fived and start devising the best plan on how to surprise their family with Rebekah’s appearance. At least Hope felt a little bit better now that she has talk about her feelings with her aunt. Now she just need to focus on the surprise and not think about Josie. Hope knew that she had to take her aunt’s advice to move on and she wished that she’ll have enough determination to take a step in moving on sooner or later.

* * *

After Josie’s break-up with Penelope, she felt really bad but better since she’s not lying anymore to herself and to Penelope. Josie also made the choice not to text Hope too much, maybe once in a while she can tell Hope her updates so she decided to reply Hope’s texts after some period of time. Well, it turns out to be easy since Hope also only replied to her texts once in a while, so they only text back and forth approximately only 3-4 times a day and Josie think that Hope might be having a lot of fun in New Orleans so she didn’t think much about it.

Since then, Josie tried to make herself busy every day, she spent a lot of time with her family and also with M.G. and Rafael, sometimes she hanged out with Jade, she also spent more time playing with her ukulele and focusing on self-meditation. All the activities are working and before she realized, it was two more days before Hope went back to Mystic Falls then she will be spending almost every day with Hope.

Josie spent a day organizing and cleaning her room and thinking hard about what she should say to Hope. What if Hope didn’t like her back? Well, the rest of the summer will be so awkward then. And how should Josie told Hope that she’s been in love with her? Or shouldn’t Josie tell Hope? Ugh, this is frustrating for Josie! Suddenly her phone lit up and Josie checked the message, it was from Hope, she was sending Josie a selfie of her eating beignets.

**_From: Wolf Hopey  
_ ** _[Picture]  
two more days til’ I’m back! Can’t wait to share these beignets with you! *smiling emojis*_

Josie smiled at the text and typed up a reply:

**_To: Wolf Hopey_ ** _  
omgg! I can’t wait to meet you…r beignets! Don’t forget the coffee too! I want the full New Orleans breakfast spread when you get here, or else I’ll be replacing you with M.G. *tongue-out emojis*_

Weirdly, Hope was replying to her text instantly:

**_From: Wolf Hopey  
_ ** _wow, I didn’t know you were this heartless, Saltzman! Don’t worry, it will be the first thing greeting you in the morning when I got back._

Josie smiled at Hope’s reply and she only texted back with a winking and thumbs up emoji. Seeing Hope’s face in the picture really made Josie miss the girl more, turns out that they didn’t facetime each other in this one month and they have only been texting each other. So seeing Hope’s beautiful face on her screen only makes Josie heart beats faster. Josie then came to a decision that day that she should tell Hope about her feelings when Hope returned from New Orleans, no matter what happened. Now Josie just has to find the right words and time to tell Hope and she only got about one and a half day to think about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so.. that's the end of Posie and idk if I made a good enough break up scene for them, please let me know?   
> and what do you think about the whole chapter and the surprise appearance? as always comments, kudos and bookmarks are appreciated.   
> plus, i'm really glad that you guys are ranting and responding emotionally with what happened last chapter, i love you guys!! reading your comments made my day! so thank youu guys! and I'm sad to say but we've only got (hopefully) two more chapters left in this fic :(((  
> see you on the next update guys xoxo


	14. so I showed up at your party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope's back from New Orleans, what will Josie do next? Is she going to confess her feelings to Hope?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! we're almost at the end of the fic :(( i hope you enjoy this and let me say Happy New Year's Eve and Happy New Year to you all! Thank you for following my fic up to this moment. there will be some drama this chapter but don't worry i won't leave you with a cliffhanger. so without further ado, enjoy! <3

**_So, I showed up at your party  
Yeah, I showed up at your party_ **

At last, the day they have been waiting for has come, Hope is back in New Orleans. She really missed Josie but at the same time her heart still hurt because it’s very hard for her to move on from Josie. On the other side, Josie was excited and nervous at the same time, she can’t wait to see Hope and Josie has prepared a meticulous plan on how to confess her feelings to Hope. Josie was thinking that they could get an early dinner in the Grill and Josie will bring Hope to the lake for a picnic and then she’ll confess her feelings. Josie hasn’t tell Hope that she broke up with Penelope because she thought that it’s better to tell Hope in person and it can be a way to tell Hope that she has feelings for another person while she was dating Penelope. By then Hope will be curious on whom Josie has feelings for and when they arrived on the lake, Josie will tell Hope about her feelings. Everything seems perfect and Josie was going to ask Lizzie and M.G.’s help to set up the decorations at the lake. Now, Josie’s hardest task was to ask Lizzie for help and to brace herself for Lizzie’s endless teasing.

Lizzie knocked her sister’s room and entered, “Hey, Liz…”

“Hey, sis, come join me, I’m binge-watching Harley Quinn, it’s more fun than I expected!” Lizzie patted her bed.

Josie sat beside Lizzie and joined Lizzie in watching the series, she’s going to wait for the current episode to end and then she’ll ask Lizzie. The episode is actually fun and Josie was sensing there’s something going on between Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, now she’s intrigued to watch the whole series. After the episode ended, Lizzie turned her head toward her twin, “So what brings you here?”

“Um..” Josie hesitated because she didn’t know where to start.

“Jo, what is it?” Lizzie asked Josie.

“I need your help..” Josie managed to speak some words.

“Help? With what? Shopping? Baking? Finding another girlfriend? Please do specify.” Lizzie wiggled her eyebrows toward Josie. When Josie told her about the break-up, Lizzie was ecstatic because at last her sister stopped dating that she-devil, Josie told her the reason of the break-up and Lizzie couldn’t help but being more ecstatic because at last her sister realized the obvious truth that has been in front of her eyes all along.

After knowing the reason why Josie and Penelope broke up, Lizzie kept hinting and pushing Josie to confess to Hope. Lizzie is getting impatient because Josie’s going to wait to tell Hope after she got back from New Orleans, in Lizzie’s opinion, Josie should just buy a ticket to New Orleans and confessed to Hope. That certainly will be a good story to tell. However, Josie didn’t want to risk that much and she waited until Hope returned. So now, when Josie was asking her for help the night before Hope return, Lizzie was a hundred percent sure that at last her sister’s going to confess so she kept teasing her sister.

“Umm… Hope’s coming home tomorrow and I’m going to take her to dinner and then to the lake and I’m going to tell her how I feel, but I wanted to hang some lights at the lake, so an you and M.G. help me?” Josie asked shyly as she blushed.

“Oh god, at last! Jo, I’m proud of you!” Lizzie grinned widely at her sister’s plan.

“Don’t make it a big deal, Lizzie,” Josie rolled her eyes because she’s embarrassed.

“Okay so you only need me to decorate the lake with lights? What else? Do I need to buy dog food for the picnic?” Lizzie asked.

“Lizzie!” Josie smacked a pillow toward Lizzie’s face, “Stop it! I don’t understand why you always said that Hope looked like a dog.”

“I don’t understand how you don’t see the similarities, dearest Josette. She always followed you around like a dog, and when she was excited to spend time with you she looked like an excited dog, if she had a tail she will wag it and lolled her tongue out.” Lizzie tried to hold her laughter imagining Hope as a dog. But apparently her sister doesn’t think so and she was pouting right now.

“Okay, okay,” Lizzie raised her hands in surrender, “I’ll stop. So what do I need to do other than putting up the lights?”

“Just bring the picnic basket and the blankets; I’m going to prepare all of it so you just need to bring those to the lake and set it up.” Josie explained.

“Okay that’s easy enough.” Lizzie nodded, “Do you need anything more? Champagne? Fireworks? Huge teddy bear? Roses? Candles?”

“Hope hated all of it. Well I don’t know about the champagne, that seems like a good idea, I’ll need you to buy champagne for me with your fake ID okay?” Josie told her sister.

“Yes ma’am!” Lizzie exclaimed, “But wait, what do you need M.G. for?”

“Okay, we’re all set then. Oh, I need M.G. to take you home, of course. Do you think you’ll be spying on the date and go home with us?” Josie raised her eyebrow as a smile crept up on her lips.

“How dare you take advantage of me!” Lizzie put her hand on her chest and pretended to be hurt.

“You volunteered for this, dearest sister. And it’s not like I’m leaving you stranded in the forest to go home alone.” Josie shake her head at her sister. Little did Lizzie know that Josie is also trying to set up her sister with M.G., Josie knew about M.G.’s big crush on Lizzie, and now that Sebastian has gone back to France, Lizzie is looking for another boyfriend and maybe M.G. could succeed in being her boyfriend. M.G. really cared for Lizzie and he is good for Lizzie, so why not? Josie knew that Lizzie actually love spending time with M.G. and she still doesn’t know the reason why Lizzie has never agree to go on a date with M.G. Maybe this situation will be a win-win for both Josie and Lizzie.

“Very well. I’m doing this because of course, I’m so selfless and I put a priority on my dearest twin’s happiness. It’s about time to see you happy after this weird emo, angsty phase you have because of Courage the Cowardly—“

“Liz!” Josie berated her with widened eyes.

“Oops, my bad! I’m sorry, I meant to said Hope,” Lizzie apologized innocently. “So are you meeting her on the Grill tomorrow?”

“Yeah I think so. Wait, I gotta text her first to make sure,” Josie pulled out her phone and started texting Hope. Josie then got up from Lizzie’s bed, “I’m going out to buy the things for the picnic. Wanna come with?”

“Sure, can we grab some ice cream after?” Lizzie asked.

“Of course!” Josie smiled excitedly at Lizzie and they both got to the car. Lizzie watched her sister hummed giddily and she’s genuinely happy to see that Josie at last will confess to Hope and it’s about time for her sister to date someone she deserved. Well, despite Lizzie’s constant insults and teasing to Hope, she actually thought that Hope really loves her sister and at least Hope’s better than Penelope in Lizzie’s eyes.

They went to the grocery store and split up because Lizzie wanted to buy some vegetables and Josie head to the snack aisle. While Josie was choosing which snacks to buy, a familiar figure approached her, it was Landon.

“Hey, Josie.” He greeted her.

Josie was surprised at the sound of his voice but she managed to smile and turned around, “Hey Landon. Great seeing you here!”

“I just wanted to apologize for what I did to you at the Grill. I was so angry back then and I can’t control myself.” Landon suddenly apologize and Josie was taken aback at his apology.

“Th-that’s okay..” Josie answered, “let’s just forget it, okay?” she said because she wanted to get away as fast as possible from Landon.

“Yeah I think it was fair, wasn’t it? Me forgiving you and you forgiving me,” Landon said.

Josie was confused, “Huh? What do you mean?”

“Yeah, I forgive you for kissing Hope.” Landon shrugged his shoulders.

“Wh-what?” Josie gasped at Landon’s words.

“Oh, I knew about the kiss.” He answered nonchalantly.

“H-how?” in this stage Josie is panicking because how could Landon know about the kiss? The only person who remembered the kiss was Josie and the only person Josie told about the kiss is Penelope. It’s impossible for Landon to know from Penelope right?

“Hope told me. And please, don’t feel bad, I know the kiss meant nothing to her because obviously she told me out of guilt. Sooner or later she will come back to me.” Landon smirked.

Josie didn’t know how to feel at Landon’s statement, Hope remembered the kiss? Why didn’t she tell Josie? Does the kiss mean nothing to her? All Josie wanted to do now was to get away from Landon and his psychotic smile.

“I gotta go,” Josie abruptly said, she didn’t care if she seems weird, she just want to get away from him. But then Landon grabbed her arm, Josie froze and she was terrified of what he’s going to do.

“Remember, she’ll come crawling back to me because you mean nothing to her.” Landon said very close to her ear so Josie will be the only one hearing it.

“Get away from her you fucker!” Lizzie shouted furiously as she pulled Josie away from Landon. Then she turned back to her twin who looked traumatized, “Jo, are you okay?” Josie only nodded her head.

“What the fuck did you do to her, moron?!” Lizzie yelled.

“Nothing. I’m just apologizing to her for what happened at the Grill.” Landon scoffed at Lizzie.

“Cut the bullshit, asshole! Fuck off now or I swear I’ll call Sheriff Donovan and told him to send you to jail for harassment!” Lizzie threatened.

Landon raised his hands mockingly in surrender, “Chill, no harm done. You don’t have to be so worked up about it.” He slowly backed off and then get out from the store.

Lizzie was still fuming when she approached Josie, “Jo, what the hell did that idiot do to you? Seriously, are you okay?”

“I-I’m startled, Liz. He apologized to me but it seems he still thinks Hope will come back to him.” Josie told her sister in a weak voice, “What if that’s true, Liz?”

“No! Of course not! Why would you believe that delirious idiot rather than your best friend, Jo? If Hope said she’s done with him, she’s done. And also, you didn’t see her when she found out what he did to you, there’s no way in hell that Hope still have any feelings left for him.” Lizzie tried to calm her sister down. “Hey c’mon, you’re still going to do your plan tomorrow, a lot of things to buy and prepare, chop chop!” Lizzie pushed Josie gently along the aisle so they can resume to their shopping. Josie was quiet the whole time they shopped until they got home because Landon’s words kept replaying in her mind. Hope remembered the kiss but why would she said she forget it to Josie? Was it that meaningless? Why wouldn’t Hope tell her the truth?

* * *

The next morning, Josie was feeling a bit better and Lizzie stayed with her most of the time last night, making sure she was okay and assuring her that Landon just said that because he was jealous of Josie. Josie made her sister promised not to tell Hope about their run-in with Landon because Josie didn’t want Hope to get mad and hurt herself again, the boy’s not worth it. Lizzie was gritting her teeth because she thought that Hope should know, but she respected her sister’s wish and promised to keep her mouth shut.

Josie checked her phone and she was a bit worried that Hope didn’t reply her text about dinner and she didn’t even tell her the flight time from New Orleans. Is Hope okay? Josie was about to call Aunt Freya when she heard a knock on her door.

“Come in!” Josie said.

The door slightly opened and Hope tilted her head inside Josie’s room, “Anyone ordered beignets and fresh coffee from New Orleans?”

Josie instantly light up when she saw Hope, she jumped out of her bed and pulled Hope inside her room.

“Careful, careful, it’s hot! Wouldn’t want to spill your breakfast all over the floor.” Hope said as she placed the beignets and coffee carefully on the table.

After making sure the beignets and coffee were safe, Josie launched herself and hugged Hope tightly. Hope lost her balance and she fell into Josie’s bed, they were chuckling and Josie can felt herself falling more and more at the girl in her embrace.

“Oh my god, I miss you so much, Hope!” Josie said as she inhaled Hope’s familiar scent. Josie was immediately at ease and she can’t wait to tell Hope how she feels tonight.

“I miss you too, Jo.” Hope smiled at the girl in front of her when she pulled herself away from the hug. How can she move on from Josie if she’s still in love with her? Damn it. Moving on will be an impossible task for her to do.

Then Josie enjoyed the beignets and coffee Hope brought her and she felt like she was in heaven, the beignets were really good and the coffee really complement it well. Hope watched her best friend eats as she moans in delight once in a while and she was really happy that she made the decision to go home a month earlier. Yes, Hope enjoyed her time in New Orleans with all of her families and friends, moreover she was really glad that she can meet Aunt Rebekah and spent some quality time with her. Pranking the rest of their family of Aunt Rebekah’s visit was very fun, they succeeded and the family spent a wonderful time that night. However, when Hope was in Josie’s arms, she felt that going back home early was worth it and Hope momentarily forgot that Josie can never be hers.

After Josie finished her coffee she asked Hope, “Hey, did you have any plans for tonight?”

“I don’t think so, why do you ask?”

“I was thinking that maybe we could grab an early dinner at the Grill and we can go to the lake, if that’s okay with you?” Josie asked Hope.

“Of course! Let’s go, I really miss the Grill’s peanut butter milkshake!” Hope said excitedly, “And let’s go to the lake, but wouldn’t it be dark since we are going there in the evening?”

“They’ll set up the lights by then, so we’re okay,” Josie answered.

“They?” Hope asked.

Oh shit. “Yeah, yeah, I mean the people who worked there.” Josie was flustered as she berated herself inwardly for blurting out the wrong thing.

Hope looked at her suspiciously but then she shrug it off, “Oh, okay then.”

“Okay! Let’s meet at the Grill at 4, is that okay?” Josie asked Hope, “Oh, and I’ll drive so you don’t need to bring your motorcycle.”

“Wow, okay! I’ll be going home first now because I need to unpack my suitcase. It’s a date then!” Hope gave Josie a hug as she went out of Josie’s room. Josie gave Hope a strange look she can’t decipher when they pull themselves away from each other.

As soon as Hope got out from Josie’s room she smacked her palm to her face, why did she said it’s a date? Ugh, does that make Josie suspicious of her feelings? Why did Josie look at her like that? Hope’s mind was filled with a lot of questions.

* * *

At 4 pm they met at the Grill and Josie was wearing the navy sweater she wore the first time Hope saw her with jeans, it’s simple but she looked so pretty in Hope’s eyes. And Hope was wearing her usual leather jacket with white tee and ripped jeans. Josie forgot to breathe when she saw Hope and she stumbled a bit as she slide down into the booth. Josie was on edge all afternoon, she was very nervous of what will happen. There are a lot of possibilities in what might happened and she’s mostly afraid, what if Hope rejects her and this will be the end of their friendship?

They directly ordered their meals so they could eat quickly and then go to the lake, Josie planned to reach the lake before it’s dark so when the sun sets, the light will start to light up. It’ll be beautiful and Josie hoped that by choosing the lake, she’ll give Hope a good memory by the lake. It was Hope’s favorite place but sometimes the lake reminded her of her parents, so Josie wanted to help Hope to heal.

When their food came, they started eating and have some small talks, Hope was telling her about her prank with Aunt Rebekah. Josie was really glad to hear that Hope got to gather with all of her family and friends in New Orleans and it seems that Hope was having a lot of fun there. Josie wished that one day she can visit New Orleans and meet Hope’s family, she smiled as she heard Hope excitedly recount the memories with her family.

Suddenly, a girl appeared in front of their booth, it was Maya, Hope’s teammate.

“Hey Hope! Hey Josie!” she greeted them both.

“Oh, hey Maya!” Hope gave her a hug and Josie smiled at her.

“Hope, I thought you were in New Orleans?” Maya asked her.

“Yeah I was, I just got back here this morning.” Hope told her.

“Oh I see,” Maya nodded, “oh hey, I know this was sudden but I was wondering, would you like to go on a date with me sometimes?”

Hope was shocked at the question and Josie was also shocked at the girl’s brashness.

“Um.. I…” Hope hesitated and saw Josie in front of her, is this the time for her to move on? Going on a date didn’t hurt right? Should she do it? Hope’s trying to see Josie’s reaction but Josie put on a poker face and she pretended that she didn’t hear any of their conversations. Oh, Josie don’t care, why would she care? It’s not like Hope’s her girlfriend, right? “Yeah, sure, why not?” Hope answered.

“Nice! Okay, I’ll text you,” Maya exclaimed, “I gotta go now, see you soon,” she left with a wink.

Josie was frozen in her seat, what the hell just happened ??!!

This is a disaster. Hope didn’t even like her, she’s going on a date with another girl who isn’t Josie. Landon’s words are echoing in Josie’s head as she thought about what just happened. Josie meant nothing to Hope, she can’t have Hope and confessing her feelings to Hope now just seem like a stupid idea. Hope didn’t even want to acknowledge that she remembered the kiss and now Hope’s going on a date with a girl from her football team. Josie felt useless being there, she felt that a big weight was dropped to her heart again. She felt helpless and what she’s going to do for Hope was pointless. Josie felt tears threatening to roll down her eyes and she was trying so hard to keep it inside.

“Jo, are you okay?” Hope asked with concern because she noticed Josie’s tensed expression.

“Yeah, yeah.” Josie then pretended to check her phone, “Uh, Hope something came up. I gotta get going. “ Josie stands up abruptly from the table as she felt like her heart just been torn apart. She didn’t even have the chance to confess to Hope and now she’s just too late. What if Hope and Maya hit it off together? How could Josie cope with that? Josie then remembered that she was going to drop Hope off to her house. “Do you want me to take you to your house? I can drop you off along the way.”

“Nah, that’s okay, I’m going to walk. Is everything okay Jo?” Hope asked.

“Nothing important, sorry I got to get home now. “ Josie said the words as fast she could.

Josie then drove home and she cried on the way home, her heart hurts because she was too late to tell Hope. Josie lost any chance she had with Hope and she called Lizzie to tell her to abort the plan. Lizzie was asking a lot of questions but she stopped when she realized that her twin was crying. She told Josie to drive safe and she’ll be waiting for Josie at home.

When Josie arrived, Lizzie was waiting for her and she’s ready to comfort Josie, Josie entered the house and Lizzie can see the pain in her eyes, she hugged her twin tightly.

“Hey Jo, it’s okay, it will be okay,” Lizzie rubbed her twin’s back affectionately, “C’mon let’s go to your room and we can do anything you wanted to do.”

Josie weakly walked upstairs and Lizzie followed behind her with chocolates and the bottle of champagne she already bought in case it will come handy. Josie changed into sweatshirt and she directly bundled herself up with a blanket, she felt terrible. Lizzie stayed beside her and stroked her hair. She was busy thinking about what happened with Hope, Josie looked very upset and she cancelled the plan, what the hell happened? After Lizzie’s done with taking care of Josie, she will call Hope

“Jo, do you want to tell me what happened?” Lizzie asked carefully toward her sister.

Josie sniffled a bit and she snuggled closer into the blanket as she started speaking, “We were grabbing dinner and then Maya came and asked Hope on a date.” Josie then wiped the tears from her eyes, “Hope said yes.”

What is wrong with that red-haired dwarf?! Lizzie thought to herself. Lizzie knew that Hope also has feelings for her sister but why in the world did she agree to go on a date with Maya? Lizzie will find out what happened and she will knock some sense into Hope for sure.

“And then what happened?” Lizzie asked.

“I pretended there was an emergency and I went home. I can’t think anymore and I can’t go on with my plan, knowing that I have no chance with Hope. I’m so stupid, Liz…” Josie wallowed as she put her head on Lizzie’s lap.

“So what do you want to do now?” Lizzie asked Josie as she took the champagne bottle, “Champagne?”

“No… I’m not really in the mood for it. I just want to stay here and sleep.” Josie frowned and pulled her blanket.

“Okay…okay… but when you wake up let’s have a movie-night and we’ll order in, mom and dad will be coming home late so we can order whatever we want. Sounds good?” Lizzie smiled at her sister.

“Yeah okay…” Josie agreed, “thank you for being here, Liz..”

“Always, Jo. I’m going to go now, feel better, okay?” Lizzie gave Josie a kiss on her forehead.

Lizzie got out of Josie’s room and she immediately called Hope.

“Hello?” Hope’s picked up the phone.

“Where are you?” Lizzie asked Hope.

“I’m at home. Why? What’s wrong?” Hope asked worriedly because Lizzie never called her.

“I’m going there in 10. Bye.” Lizzie simply informed Hope and hanged up the phone.

10 minutes later Hope heard a knock on her door, that must be Lizzie. What was so urgent that Lizzie needs to come see her? Is it about Josie? Josie was being weird when she left the Grill suddenly so she seems weird and Hope didn’t even know if she did something wrong that caused Josie to leave.

Hope opened the door and before she could tell Lizzie to come in, the taller girl has barged into her home and plopped herself onto the sofa.

“Do you want anything to drink?” Hope asked Lizzie.

“Sure, do you have iced tea?” Lizzie responded.

“Yeah,” Hope walked to the fridge and pour out the iced tea into a glass, “Here you go.” She handed the glass to Lizzie.

“Thanks.” Lizzie took a sip from the glass and put it on the table, “So, tell me what happened on the Grill.”

Hope was confused at Lizzie’s demand but she went ahead and told Lizzie what happened. After Hope was done in narrating what happened, Lizzie looked at her with disbelief.

“What?!” Hope asked, a bit annoyed because Lizzie didn’t even respond to her story instead she only looked at Hope.

“Oh god why are you two such oblivious gays,” Lizzie muttered as she shake her head. “Hope, did it dawn on you that my twin was trying to tell you something?”

“We only talked about my experience in New Orleans and her road trip with Penelope. That’s all.” Hope shrugged.

“Wow. You both are even more hopeless than I imagined. Didn’t Josie tell you anything significant?”

“I don’t know, she told me about the road trip and she said she enjoyed it. Then we got interrupted then Josie went home.” Hope said with a frown.

“Ugh,” Lizzie rolled her eyes exasperatedly, “I have no choice but to tell you this.”

“What?” Hope asked curiously.

“Josie was going to confess her feelings to you at the lake. That’s why she asked you to an early dinner.” Lizzie told her.

“Confess? Confess what?” Hope scrunched her forehead in confusion.

“Confess about the murder she did while you were gone.” Lizzie with a serious voice, “Of course, no, dummy! What else she’s going to confess to you other than her feelings?”

“Wh-what?” Hope can’t believe what she heard, “N-no. That’s impossible.” She denied Lizzie’s statement.

“Why is it impossible? She’s been having feelings for you for some time.” Lizzie questioned Hope.

“But she has Penelope…I don’t understand this, I-I don’t get it.” Hope stammered weakly.

“Hasn’t Josie told you? They broke up!” Lizzie can’t believe that her sister hasn’t even told Hope that she broke up with Penelope, so that’s the reason why Hope said yes to the date.

“What?!” Hope’s eyes widened at the news.

“You’re going to have to find other vocabularies than ‘what’, seems you’ve been repeating it over and over again.” Lizzie said as she chuckled at Hope’s surprised expression.

“Josie and Penelope broke up? Why didn’t she tell me?” Hope can’t believe all these information she got from Lizzie.

“She was planning to tell you, I don’t know what exactly her plan is but she’s definitely going to tell you.” Lizzie told Hope. “And now that you have stupidly agreed to go on a date with whatever her name is, Josie was broken-hearted. Fix it, Mikaelson.”

Hope was still wrapping all of the information on her head and what the hell she’s going to do? Josie has feelings for her? And she breaks up with Penelope? Oh god, Hope still can’t believe that Josie actually has feelings for her.

“I never thought she has any feelings for me… she was so happy with Penelope and I have made my peace with it, I was trying to move on so that’s why I agreed to the date.” Hope explained to Lizzie.

“You two are really useless…” Lizzie can’t believe both Hope and her sister are the only two people oblivious of their own feelings. “Josie has been crushing on you for the longest time, I might say that she’s obsessed with you. I think she saw you at a football game and she has been crushing on you since. Do you know why she took A.P. Bio class when we were freshman? She switched because she knew you were on that class, she didn’t want to admit it, but I know.”

Hope’s speechless by the reveal and Lizzie continued, “She always talked about you and then you started being best friends, Josie was overjoyed, my ears hurt from always hearing her talk about you. Josie didn’t even think that you will reciprocate her feelings so she dated Penelope and then you dated that stupid hobbit. I think her feelings for you never fade away no matter what she did. Oh and she asked for your aunt’s permission to let you come home earlier, she even asked our mom to tell your aunt that we’ll take care of you so she doesn’t have to worry. If that’s not her having feelings for you, I don’t even know what I should call it.”

“But why? How?” Hope was lost in her own thoughts, her mind racing as she thought back about Josie and her feelings for Hope. This is so surreal and Hope tried subtly pinching herself to remind her that this is not a dream. “Wait…” Hope stared at Lizzie suspiciously, “are you messing with me?”

“I can’t believe you, Mikaelson! Do you think I will make up those things about my sister? C’mon, get a grip, it’s obvious, Josie has feelings for you and you have feelings for her, so please, for all our sake, just confess your feelings!” Lizzie said impatiently because Hope didn’t believe that she was being serious.

“I-I can’t believe it.” Hope stuttered, “Wow.” she couldn’t say anything more because she’s too flabbergasted.

“Seriously, I’m ruining Josie’s plan by telling you all of this, but please, just talk to my sister. She’s being miserable right now and you’re the only one who could help her.” Lizzie begged Hope.

“Okay, I’ll talk to her… but what if she hates me?” Hope’s concerned with the fact that Josie was broken hearted because of her.

“She won’t hate you. How many times do I have to tell you that you’re both whipped for each other? You know what to do right?” Lizzie questioned, “Or do I have to do it for you too? Do I have to tell Josie about your feelings?” she asked sarcastically.

“Ha. Ha.” Hope glared at Lizzie.

“Don’t fuck this up, Mikaelson. I’m serious. Your love lives are more complicated and absurd than the plotline of Riverdale. If you fuck this up, I know where to find you.” Lizzie threatened Hope as she got up and leave the house without saying anything more toward Hope.

Hope was left with her own thoughts and she still can’t believe everything Lizzie just told her. Josie has a crush on her since she met Hope on the A.P. Bio class? She even switched her class? Hope can’t believe it. And Josie’s actually going to confess her feelings to Hope today? How could Hope even know? So that’s why Josie went home right after Maya asked her on d ate. Ugh, why didn’t she realize this sooner? Hope then tried to think of the perfect way to confess to Josie but all she can think about is that Josie has feelings for her. Hope was ecstatic when she heard that and hearing what Josie did for her really warmed her heart. She couldn’t be more in love with Josie and she’s going to need some help if she’s going to make this right. So Hope took out her phone and dialed a number, she need all the help she can get to surprise Josie. Hope’s really excited and she just hoped that nothing will go wrong with her plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what do you think guys? are you surprised with some of the information I revealed in this chapter? please tell me what you think about this! as always, thank you so much for your comments, I really love reading your comments. Plus, kudos and bookmarks are also appreciated. til then, see you next week and Happy New Year! <3


	15. kissing in my car again, stopped at a streetlight you know i miss you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What has Hope planned for Josie? Will Hosie get their happy ending at last?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! It's thursday and it means another update! well sadly this will be the last chapter of the fic :( i'm a bit sad to end this fic. i was actually procrastinating in writing this chapter because i really want to make a good ending for you guys. I really hope that you guys will be satisfied with this ending. So bear with me for this one last ride, okay?  
> I'm really excited for you guys to read this and please do tell me what you think about it!  
> and i am so thankful to all of you who has been in this journey together with me for these past 2 months. this doesn't mean good bye since I will be making more Hosie fics, so I'll hope I can see you there. love you guys! thank you for all the kudos, bookmarks and comments.  
> oh and please do check out my Christmas Hosie one shot if you got the time and you miss Hosie! also I'm excited that Legacies S3 will be premiering soon, I hope for moreeee Hosie content!  
> okay then, enough ramblings, sorry guys. and now without further ado, enjoy! <3

**_Yeah, I showed up at your party  
Will you have me?_ _Will you love me?  
Will you kiss me on the porch  
In front of all your stupid friends?  
If you kiss me  
Will it be just like I dreamed it?_ _Will it patch your broken wings?  
I'm only seventeen_ _,_ _I don't know anything  
But I know I miss you_ _, s_ _tanding in your cardigan  
Kissing in my car again_ _, s_ _topped at a streetlight, you know I miss you_**

Josie was looking at her picture with Hope when Lizzie marched into the room, “Sister, change your clothes please, we’re going out!”

“What? I’m not in the mood Lizzie…” Josie frowned and pulled her blanket to cover her face.

“Oh well… Hope’s going to be here in 10 minutes… so if you wanted to flee, this is your opportunity,” Lizzie mentioned the information nonchalantly.

“What?!” Josie threw her blanket away, “Why?! What did you do, Lizzie??”

“C’mon Josette, time’s a ticking!” Lizzie ignored Josie’s question while she played with her phone.

Josie was cussing at her sister while she frantically changed her clothes, Josie wasn’t ready to see Hope, she’s not ready to tell her why she left so suddenly and definitely telling Hope her feelings will be just purely pathetic because she knew that Hope will never be hers.

“Let’s go!” Josie grabbed her denim jacket and looked at her sister who was walking over slowly toward the door, “Oh come on Lizzie, you said it yourself that Hope will be here, I don’t think I’m ready to see her!”

Lizzie chuckled at her sister’s remark, oh little did she know about what’s coming next, Lizzie then walked a bit faster, “Geez… I thought you’re not in the mood to go out…”

“Well, I changed my mind!” Josie snapped back with an annoyed huff. They both got into the car and Lizzie started driving.

“Where do you want to go?” Lizzie asked her sister while she backed up the car out of their carport.

“I don’t know, anywhere but here!” Josie panicked as she turned her head left and right to see any signs of Hope.

Lizzie smirked at her sister’s answer, yep, she’s always right; she knew that Josie will answer that way. So Lizzie drove around and Josie didn’t really paid attention on the road because she was closing her eyes and listening to music. Well, that makes the job easier for Lizzie. Lizzie discreetly checked her smart watch to see the maps and make sure that she’s driving in the right direction.

“Liz, where are you taking me?” Josie opened her eyes and realized that they are not downtown.

“Shhh.. go back to your brooding… you said you don’t care where we go, right?” Lizzie replied her sister.

“Well I- urgh,” Josie was frustrated because indeed she said those words to Lizzie. Josie looked outside the car window but it’s kinda dark so she can’t exactly pinpoint where they are at right now. Where the hell is Lizzie taking her? Josie then closed her eyes again and after about 10 minutes, the car was slowing down and it stopped.

Josie opened her eyes and look around, it’s still dark but she kinda know the place, where are they exactly? Lizzie turned off the car engine and Josie got out of the car, as soon as Josie closed the car door, Lizzie locked the car and she started the engine again.

“Liz! What the hell?!” Josie was surprised that Lizzie restarted the car, she can see her sister with her shit-eating grin inside the car. Josie pounded on Lizzie’s window, “Hey! Let me in!”

Lizzie opened the car window just a bit to prevent Josie putting her hand inside the car to unlock the door. “I’m sorry, dearest sister!” Lizzie shouted but her tone didn’t seem too apologetic.

“What the hell is this! Elizabeth Jenna Saltzman, you open the door right now!” Josie pounded on the window as she tried to open the car door. Lizzie was holding back her laugh inside the car at her sister’s reaction.

“I’m truly sorry, well actually I’m not sorry for this and you’ll thank me later. But I’m afraid I need to go,” Lizzie informed her sister.

“What?! You’re leaving me alone in the middle of nowhere? What the hell, Lizzie?!” Josie freaked out as she kept trying to open the car door even though it’s locked.

“Look around, Jo. It’s not in the middle of nowhere. Okay, I really need to go now! Stay safe and love you!” Lizzie blew a kiss from the car while she held her phone to record her sister’s erratic behavior.

Josie grunted furiously at her sister, “Don’t you dare, Elizabeth!”

“Love you, Jo!” Lizzie shouted through the window and she slowly drove away from Josie.

Josie tried to run after the car but Lizzie sped up and Josie can see her crazy twin sister laughing as she drove away. Josie stopped to catch her breath and she looked around the place, well it does seem familiar, but everything’s dark. Whatever pranks Lizzie was trying to pull on her, it is not funny and Josie started to notice how eerie and silent it was as she took out her cellphone and turned on the flashlight.

After turning on the flashlight, Josie could take a good look around her surroundings and she was surprised at where she ended up. It was the lake. Hope’s lake. Why the hell did Lizzie brought and left her here? Josie looked around as she walked toward the lake then she saw a figure approaching her. Josie was scared, what if it was a serial killer? Why the hell was this place so dark, there were only several lights and they were not helping to illuminate the place. Afraid of the figure approaching her, Josie then turned around to get away from the figure. As Josie walked swiftly, the figure also picked up the pace and then Josie felt a hand on her shoulder and her self-defense instinct kicked in, she grabbed the hand on her shoulder with both of her hands and she was ready to turn and throw the person who’s following her, that is, if she still remembered how to do it because it’s been a while since she did karate.

“Whoa, whoa, Jo. It’s me!” the figure held up their hands and Josie recognized the voice. She can’t believe her ears but it must be real.

“Hope??” Josie asked uncertainly as she turned around.

“Yeah… sorry if I startled you…” Hope apologized.

Josie’s fear turned into anger, “Are you crazy?! Why are you here??”

“Oh god I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to do that, it’s just you’re approaching me but then you turned around so I followed you…” Hope explained.

“And you didn’t think to call my name?! And why the hell am I here? Are you trying to kill me?” Josie bombarded Hope with questions angrily.

“Okay… okay… I was nervous Jo… I’m sorry… no, of course not, why am I trying to kill you?” Hope scrunched her eyebrows in disbelief.

“If you’re not trying to kill me, why are we talking here in the darkness and in the middle of nowhere with only the two of us here?!” Josie snapped because she felt stupid and anxious, she realized that her sister tricked her into meeting Hope. Josie then walked past Hope and she headed to a bench with a light on it so things will be less scary. As Josie walked toward the bench, Hope was following behind her and she kept apologizing to Josie. Josie ignored Hope’s apologies as she huffed and sit on the bench. Hope also followed and sat beside her.

“What am I doing here, Hope?” Josie turned around and looked at her best friend.

“Um… I need to talk to you, Jo…” Hope answered nervously. Josie only nodded as a sign for Hope to go ahead.

“Well… I want to ask you, why did you leave the Grill so suddenly?” Hope asked.

Josie was flustered at the question but she was quick to compose herself, “I told you that something came up.”

“Okay… and what were you trying to tell me back at the Grill before we were interrupted?” Hope gave another question again.

“Nothing.” Josie swiftly replied as her heart skipped a beat, why is Hope questioning her like this?

“Nothing? I thought it was important Jo…” Hope tried to get Josie to answer.

“No, it wasn’t important. Forget it, Hope.” Josie answered coldly.

Now Hope is really confused on how she should proceed in talking to Josie, it seemed that the girl was mad at her.

“Um…we don’t talk much at the Grill so I thought that we could spend some time here…” Hope cautiously told Josie because she didn’t know what to say anymore.

“Why are we meeting here? You can just come to my house if you want to talk.” Josie responded curtly toward Hope’s remark.

“We were going to go here, right? So I thought why not spend our time here? I miss seeing the lake.” Hope smiled weakly as she cursed herself for the lame excuse.

Josie didn’t reply and she just folded her arms and pout.

Hope cleared her throat, “Well… how are you and did you do anything fun after the road trip? How’s Penelope?” she spoke quickly because she was being really obvious right now.

Josie glared at her, “We broke up.”

“What?! But why? I thought everything’s going well?” Hope pretended to be surprised, she knows that it’s unfair that she already knew about it but she needed Josie to tell her the reasons in order for Hope to confess.

“Don’t, Hope. I think you know why.” Josie answered bitterly as she looked through Hope’s reaction.

“What? I really don’t know why, Jo.” Hope frowned, taunting Josie to blurt out the reason why she broke up with Penelope.

“Stop it, Hope. It’s unfair. I want to go home.” Josie pulled out her phone as she dialed Lizzie’s number.

“What’s unfair?” Hope was confused at Josie’s remark.

“You can’t keep doing this to me.” Josie said as she looked at Hope with anger and sadness in her eyes.

“Do what, Jo?” Hope panicked because Josie started tearing up.

Josie let out a groan in frustration because her call was going to voicemail, how was she supposed to go home now?

“I’m going home.” Josie got up from her seat as she furiously wiped her tears.

“Jo, please, stop. Let me explain.” Hope grabbed Josie’s arm, stopping her from walking away.

“Let go of me, Hope.” Josie yanked her hand away from Hope’s but Hope’s grip was tighter.

“I’m not letting you go, Josie. Not again.” Hope said fiercely as she pulled Josie back to her seat gently.

Josie didn’t even look at Hope, she refused to look at Hope and she was trying so hard to hold back her tears. Why is Hope doing this to her? Isn’t it enough for her to torture herself in pretending everything’s okay with Hope even when it’s not?

“Josie, please, listen to me. I’m sorry okay, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do this.” Hope plead with a soft voice.

Josie ignored Hope’s apology and Hope continued, “Can you please look at me?”

Josie slowly turned around and Hope was looking at her with her ocean blue eyes with a look that Josie can’t decipher. When Josie’s eyes met Hope’s eyes, it was like a dam has been broken in Josie’s chest, her feelings for Hope came flooding back and her heart hurt so much because she didn’t want to have high hope in what Hope’s trying to do right now. Josie knew expecting too much will result in her disappointment, so Josie tried her best to suppress her feelings for the girl in front of her.

“Jo, I just wanted to know the reason you broke up with Penelope…” Hope carefully asked Josie, hoping the girl will tell her why.

“Wow. You’re unbelievable.” Josie shake her head at Hope, she took a deep breath and continued, “Okay, if that’s all you care about.”

“You want to know why I broke up with her?” Josie asked bitterly, “I have feelings for another person all this time and the person didn’t even reciprocate my feelings, pathetic right?”

“What makes you so sure that the person doesn’t have any feelings toward you?” Hope questioned.

“Why don’t you answer the question yourself, Hope?!” Josie raised her voice, “You already know that I have feelings for you, just stop whatever you’re trying to do right now, I understand that you’ll never have feelings for me.” Josie stated bluntly because she has connected all the pieces of the puzzle now. It seems Hope already knew about Josie’s feelings and Josie didn’t understand what kind of game Hope is trying to play right now.

Hope was taken aback at Josie’s response, her brain stopped and she can’t get any word out of her mouth. “Jo, I—“

“Yeah, I know it’s pathetic, _I’m_ pathetic. I know that you actually remembered about the kiss but you didn’t want to admit it because it’s meaningless to you. I’m hopelessly crazy about you and you won’t ever feel the same way about me. I know that-“

“The kiss means everything to me, Jo. It’s all I kept thinking about all summer long.” Josie’s sentence was cut off by Hope.

“What?” Josie’s mouth was agape.

“You’re all I can think about, Jo. From the moment I saw you on Bio class, I knew that something was pulling me to you. I just didn’t know what it was at the moment. But on your 15th birthday, I realized that I’m in love with you, and I think I have been hopelessly in love with you until now.” Hope exhaled shakily.

“Y-you wh-what?” Josie stuttered, shocked at the information Hope just dropped on her.

“I’m in love with you, Josie. I’m sorry for being so stupid and oblivious about my own feelings, when you started dating Penelope, I thought I was just being protective about my best friend and so I started dating Landon but I realized that I can’t stop thinking about you. I was trying so hard not to be jealous of Penelope because she was the one who ends up with you. And the night we kissed, I kept telling myself that I must be imagining it because it seems surreal, I knew that we were both under the influence of alcohol and I’m sorry that I took advantage of you. When you asked me the next morning about what happened, I panicked and thought that I will be ruining your relationship if I told you. So I kept my mouth shut and I told you I didn’t remember anything eventhough that’s all I’ve been thinking about all this time.”

Josie was truly taken aback with Hope’s lengthy confession; she was processing all the information Hope told her. Hope has feelings for her? Wait, nope. Hope is in love with her?

“Hope, I—“

“No, wait. I’m not done yet.” Hope stopped Josie and she took Josie’s hand and her other hand was fumbling with something, suddenly the fairy lights above them illuminate the surroundings and Josie was in awe at the surprise.

“Josie, I’m sorry that it took me so long to do this. I should’ve told you how I felt sooner. I was actually trying to let you go and be happy with Penelope, that’s why I told you to go on the road trip. I thought going to New Orleans will help me move on, but no, I just kept thinking about you. I never thought in a million years that you could have feelings for me. And let me just say this to you again, I love you so much, Josie Saltzman, I am madly in love with you.” Hope said sincerely as she took Josie’s hand and brought it to her lips.

Josie didn’t even realize that tears were streaming down her eyes, she was really surprised at all the things Hope said to her, she wiped her tears and chuckled, “I love you too, Hope. I love you so much that it hurts me when I saw you with Landon and just like you, I kept thinking about you all summer long, even when I was with Penelope. I’ve always loved you, Hope.”

Hope was looking at her with her warm, loving eyes and Josie placed her hand upon Hope’s cheeks and pulled her in a deep kiss. It was slow, full of love and soft. Hope hummed into the kiss contentedly as she placed her fingers between Josie’s brown locks. Josie then abruptly pulled away from Hope, “Wait. What about your date with Maya?”

Hope smiled at her, “I’ll text her tomorrow and I’ll apologize to her and tell her that I have plans with my girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend?!” Josie was wide-eyed at Hope’s statement.

Hope blushed and smiled sheepishly, “Um.. I mean yeah, that is if you want to be my girlfriend?” she looked expectantly at Josie.

Josie gave a short peck on Hope’s lips instead of answering, “Does this answer your question?”

“Nope.” Hope smirked at the brunette.

“Ugh, do I have to say it?” Josie rolled her eyes playfully.

“Uh huh,” Hope nodded as she leaned in closer to Josie.

“Okay, okay. Yes, of course I want to be your girlfriend!” Josie rolled her eyes again and chuckled as she connected her lips with Hope’s again.

Hope was smiling so hard at Josie and she still can’t believe what’s happening right now, how could she be so lucky that actually Josie has feelings for her too? She took Josie’s hand and led her to the side of the lake.

Josie was surprised at the sight that’s waiting for her, Hope has set up blankets and there’s Josie’s picnic basket which she has prepared previously. “Hope, are you stealing my plan?”

“Um well…” Hope grinned at the younger girl as they walked toward the blanket and they sat down. Hope leaned against the pillows and she patted the space in front of her for Josie to sit. As the brunette sat down, Hope circled her arms on Josie’s body and put her head on Josie’s shoulder.

“I was actually planning to do this!” Josie pouted when she looked at the surroundings; this is what she has planned on how to tell Hope about her feelings. “Did Lizzie put you up to this?” Josie asked suspiciously.

“Soo… actually I was thinking of bringing you the lake since you wanted to come here and it’s also my favorite place. I needed some help to know whether you would like it or not so I called Lizzie, and she actually freaked me out because she laughed so hard when she heard my plan. At first I thought she was laughing at me because it’s too cheesy and it won’t work but then she agreed to help and hence, she kidnapped you and brought you here. She even gave me the picnic basket.” Hope explained what happened to Josie.

“Oh my god. Is this for real?” Josie’s eyes widened, “Hope, I was actually going to confess to you here! That’s the picnic basket I’ve prepared for us.” Josie pointed at the basket and she laughed.

It is now Hope’s turn to be surprised, “What? So that’s why Lizzie was laughing at me. Ugh, she actually knows about what you were going to do?!”

“Yeah, I actually asked her help to set up the lights and bring the blanket and the basket. But well, you know what happened then…” Josie exhaled, thinking about how emotional she was back at the Grill.

“Of course.” Hope shake her head at the information, “She was pretending not to understand what I’m going to do that I have to explain my plan again to her. Seems like she’s fooling me.”

“Oh I’m sorry for my sister, Hope. Well, you know, Lizzie’s just being Lizzie..” Josie chuckled because she was sure that her twin was having a lot of fun teasing and torturing her while Hope was asking for her help.

“Yeah, at least she succeeded in bringing you here.” Hope said as she kissed Josie’s cheek.

Josie took the chocolate box and champagne out of the picnic basket and she poured the champagne and takes a chocolate and fed it to Hope. She felt her heart could burst out of joy now that she’s here with Hope under the lights beside the lake.

“Hey Jo, how did you know that I actually remembered the kiss?” Hope suddenly asked her because she knew that she didn’t tell a soul about her kiss with Josie, well except Landon. But it will be impossible that Josie knew about it from Landon, right?

“Um..it doesn’t matter, Hope…What matters now is that we’re here.” Josie tried to change the topic.

“No, Jo. Please tell me. Because there’s only one person who knows about the kiss and I need to know how you found out.” Hope begged her girlfriend.

Josie hesitated before speaking and she turned around and faced Hope, she took Hope’s hand and intertwined their fingers together, “Promise you will listen until the end and you won’t get mad about it?” Josie put up her pinkie finger and Hope linked their pinkies together as she nodded.

“Landon actually approached me and he was probably still mad about your break up with him and he told me that you actually remembered about the kiss and he convinced me that maybe I don’t mean anything to you because you weren’t telling me the truth.” Josie felt Hope’s grip tightened on her hand when she spoke, “So I was overthinking what he said to me and that’s one of the reason I convinced myself that you won’t ever have any feelings for me.”

Hope was trying her best to control her emotion when she heard what Josie said. That fucking jerk still has the nerve to bother Josie, even after Hope punched her?! Maybe Hope should consider Aunt Rebekah’s offer on making him disappear. “Are you okay, Jo? Did he do anything else to you? I’m so so sorry.” Hope gritted her teeth because she was mad that she couldn’t protect Josie from that psychotic boy again.

“Hey, you promise you won’t get mad, right?” Josie calmed Hope’s down and slowly Hope felt her anger dissipated by looking at Josie’s beautiful face.

“Yeah, yeah. I just can’t forgive myself if he hurt you again. I was the one who caused him to act that way, you should’ve not been the one who suffered for it.” Hope felt really guilty upon hearing what Josie said to her.

“Hope, I’m okay, I’m alright. Yes his words affected me, but that’s it. He wouldn’t even dare to do anything. Lizzie also barged in and threatened to call Uncle Matt and he backed off. He was just a pathetic loser who felt insecure.” Josie calmed Hope down as she cupped Hope’s cheek and caressed it.

Hope leaned in to the touch and pressed her lips on Josie’s hand, “I love you, Jo. I could’ve never not have feelings for you, even if I tried. So please forget all the things he said to you, you are everything to me and I’d be crazy if I let you believe otherwise.”

“I know, Hope. I love you too. I’ve been crazy about you; well my sister even told me that I’m obsessed about you. And I’m sorry that it took us some heartbreaks and drama first to get here.” Josie smiled at her girlfriend warmly.

“Oh, I’ve heard everything about that. So do you want to confirm that you actually switched class just to be together with me?” Hope smirked at Josie teasingly.

“Nope. I just find A.P. Biology very exciting. And I coincidentally met a cute football captain there who didn’t have any pen on the first day of school. It’s just a plus.” Josie shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly at Hope’s questions.

“Oh, is that so?” Hope raised her eyebrows and brought her face closer to Josie’s. Josie then did the same thing until they were only inches apart. “Mmmhm…” she smirked back at Hope and brought their lips together again. Josie felt like she could stay forever in this moment and she couldn’t be more content with what she has with Hope. Then Josie felt something wet dripping down her nose and it started raining, Hope broke the kiss and they yelped at the rain that suddenly grew bigger. Josie hurriedly put all their food back inside the basket and folded the blankets.

“Come on!” Josie got up quickly so they can get out of the rain, they were both laughing as they ran toward Hope’s car. Josie put the blanket and picnic basket safely inside Hope’s car and when she closed the door, Hope suddenly pulled her back and kissed her.

“What are you doing, Hope?” Josie asked, “We’re gonna get soaked!”

“We’re already soaked now, what’s the difference then?” she pulled Josie into her embrace and started swaying as she hummed, Josie was laughing at Hope’s gesture and she crashed her lips on Hope’s. They were soaked, the rain was getting heavier but they don’t care. They were just laughing as they can’t stop kissing each other. “Huh, I never thought that you were the romantic one here. Kissing under the rain was probably in your bucket list, is it?” Josie teased Hope as she tucked Hope’s wet hair aside.

Hope answered in a chuckle, “Well, I think I’m a hopeless romantic when it comes to you, Jo.”

Josie gave Hope a kiss again and she took Hope’s hand, “Come on, we’ll get sick if we stayed out any longer. I don’t want Aunt Freya to be mad at me if her favorite niece is sick.” Josie pulled Hope to the car.

They were really cold and soaked and Josie didn’t let go of Hope’s hand the whole drive on their way back home. When they arrived, Lizzie was slow clapping at them as they got inside the house while Josie’s parents, especially Caroline were nagging them both for staying under the rain. That night, Hope and Josie slept soundly holding each other, the next morning Hope started sneezing then Josie followed, both Caroline and Freya nagged them, but it was all worth it.

* * *

About a week after their respective confession, Freya decided to drop by to Mystic Falls for two days because she was worried about Hope. So Freya texted Josie to set up a surprise dinner for them, well actually Freya wanted to get back at Hope for the prank she pulled with Rebekah back in New Orleans when Rebekah visited. And Freya has set up a plan to get back at both Hope and Rebekah. She will contact Rebekah and told her that Hope got into some emergency at Mystic Falls and that way Rebekah will pick her up and they could get to Mystic Falls with Rebekah’s private jet. Hope won’t even know that her aunts will be visiting so she asked Josie to bring Hope back home on dinner time, just in time for Freya and Rebekah to arrive.

Josie was excited at the plan she made with Aunt Freya, Hope must be really glad that not one but her two aunts are coming to visit her. She tried her best to keep her contact in a minimum with Aunt Freya so Hope didn’t get suspicious about it. On the designated day of the prank, Freya called her in the morning just to brief her on what’s going to happen. Josie chuckled gleefully because Aunt Freya was being really serious about the plan and she was taking this seriously, that reminded Josie to never prank Aunt Freya.

“Hello Josie?”

“Hey, Aunt Freya!”

“So, everything’s set? Have you ordered the food for tonight?”

“Yep. Just like you asked.”

“And you convinced Hope to eat dinner at home?”

“Yep. She seems a bit suspicious but I told her that I want to cook for her and she instantly agreed to it.”

“Okay, that’s good. We’ll be arriving around 5 PM and the drive from the hangar might take about 20 minutes so maybe just bring Hope home around 6 PM.”

“That's easy. I’ll drop her off and told her that I forgot to buy some ingredients and then I’ll be off.”

“What? Why are you dropping her off?”

“Wait…you’re eating dinner at home right?”

“Yes, we are. Oh god, of course you should come, silly!”

“Oh. I should?”

“Of course, Josie. You’re my niece’s girlfriend. Why would you think that you’re not invited? You’re basically family by now!”

“Um… thanks Aunt Freya, that really means a lot. Okay, I’ll just distract her then while waiting for you and Aunt Rebekah to come. By the way, is everything good on your end?”

“Well, I’m going to call Rebekah after this, I’m sure she’ll freak out. She won’t know what’s coming.”

“Alright then, Aunt Freya. See you tonight?”

“See you tonight, Josie.”

Josie then hanged up the phone and she didn’t realize that Hope was behind her back. “Who was that?” Josie yelped at Hope’s voice.

“Um…uh…it’s Lizzie.” Josie stuttered because she didn’t know what to tell Hope.

“I thought we are getting dinner together tonight.” Hope frowned.

“Yeah, of course we are! I’m just saying see you tonight when I will see her at home. Tonight, of course. Unless I’ll be sleeping over at your house?” Josie tried to play off her nervousness as she smirked at Hope.

“Oh. Uhm, well, if you wanted to, you could sleep over.” It’s Hope’s turn now to stutter at answering Josie’s question.

Josie stealthily let out an exhale because she succeeded in changing the topic so Hope wouldn’t suspect a thing about the surprise tonight.

“Let me ask my mom, okay?” Josie told her girlfriend as she winked.

“So… what are we going to do today?” Hope asked Josie as she played with her fingers.

“Let’s just do something chill, maybe go to a café and read some books? Because we need to get to your house around 5 PM.”

“Why does it have to be 5 PM? It’s not like we’re on a schedule aren’t we?” Hope chuckled at Josie’s planning.

“Uh well. I need to prepare for the dinner of course, it will take time, you don’t want to have dinner at 10 PM right?” Josie asked Hope.

Hope looked at her and answered, “I think anytime is okay for me as long as I’m with you, babe.”

Josie burst out laughing at Hope’s words, “Ugh, you’re so cheesy, Hopey.”

“Yeah, but you love me.” Hope pecked Josie’s lips shortly.

“Yeah, unfortunately I do.” Josie pecked back as she grinned at her girlfriend’s silliness.

* * *

When it’s almost 5 PM, Josie told Hope that they need to start heading back to Hope’s house, and she realized that she left her phone at her house, oh no, Aunt Freya will contact her so she need to get her phone.

“Hope, can I borrow your phone? I left mine at home, I’ll ask Lizzie to bring it to your house.”

“Here,” Hope handed Josie her phone and Josie dialed Lizzie’s number. As she was waiting for Lizzie to answer, Hope said, “Hey, ask Lizzie to join us for dinner if she didn’t have any dinner plans tonight.” Josie was surprised at Hope’s request, since when Hope and her sister are BFFs? Josie was about to ask Hope but her sister has answered the phone.

“How can I help you Lassie?” Lizzie directly asked without any greetings.

“Wow, rude. It’s me, Liz.” Josie rolled her eyes at her sister’s statement.

“Oh hey, Jo. I thought it was Hope.” Lizzie suddenly changed her tone and even mentioned Hope by name. “What’s wrong?”

“I need your help, Liz. I left my phone at home and I really need it for something, could you please bring it to Hope’s house. We’re heading back from the café now, so we should arrive in 10 minutes. Please?” Josie asked her sister.

“Of course, Jo.” Lizzie directly agreed.

“Okay, see you! Thank you so much Liz!” Josie thanked her twin, “Oh, Liz. If you don’t have any plans for tonight, Hope is asking you to join us for dinner.”

“What? What’s wrong? Is someone seriously ill?!” Lizzie asked, alarmed.

“I don’t know, she just told me to ask you to come.” Josie said, “Of course no one is sick! Why would you think that?”

“I don’t know, you tell me why Hope Mikaelson is inviting me to dinner!” Lizzie responded.

“Well just ask her yourself when you meet her. And please, Lizzie, behave yourself.” Josie berated her twin.

“Okay… okay… see you there, I’ll be there in 15 minutes! Bye!”

“Bye!” Josie hanged up the phone and returned it to Hope.

They drove back to Hope’s house and after about 5 minutes arriving, Lizzie showed up and gave Josie her phone. Josie quickly excused herself outside and checked all of her messages in case Aunt Freya is updating her about the information. There are several updates from Aunt Freya and a miscall just now. Oh god, Aunt Freya must have landed. Josie quickly dialed Aunt Freya’s number, “Hello, Aunt Freya?” “Yes, we’re already at the house. Oh and because Hope thought that it was only the both of us having dinner so she invited my twin sister. Is that okay if she also join us?” “Okay. Thank you, Aunt Freya. See you in a bit!”

After hanging up the phone, Josie return back inside and check her food order that will be delivered soon. When Hope, Lizzie and Josie are conversing in the living room, Josie heard the front door opened. Hope was alarmed because she thought an intruder was coming inside although Josie knew that it’s Aunt Freya but she played along and pretended to be surprised. And Josie forgot about Lizzie, her poor sister didn’t know the plan, so she was also startled and scared as they hide against the wall to see the intruder. Hope was holding Josie’s hand and Josie can felt that her girlfriend was nervous. Oh god, Josie can’t help but felt bad that her girlfriend was probably so scared right now. Josie heard footsteps approaching quickly.

“Can you just tell me what happened? Where’s Hope?” Josie heard a familiar British accent, that must be Aunt Rebekah, so she still believe that something’s wrong with Hope.

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Hope stepped out and she can’t believe whom she saw in front of her. “Auntie Bex?! Aunt Freya?! What the--?”

“Hope! Are you okay? What’s wrong?” Rebekah ran toward her niece and hugged her, checking Hope for any signs of injury.

“I’m okay, Auntie Bex. Wait, why are you asking me that? And why are you here??” Hope confusedly look at both of her aunts.

Freya was laughing so hard as she watched the confusion between her sister and her niece, Josie can’t help but started to laugh and walked over to Aunt Freya.

“Hey Aunt Freya,” she greeted as they laughed together. Freya gave her a hug and high fived her. “Great job, Josie. We succeed!”

Aunt Rebekah was looking at Freya in confusion at first but then she quickly caught up that her sister was fooling her, “Oh, sister. Are you trying to get back at me for my prank with Hope?”

Freya was just laughing so hard, “You should’ve seen the look on your face! Both of you!” she was cackling and Josie was grinning widely.

“Babe! You know??” Hope’s eyes widened.

“I’m sorry, babe.” Josie apologized as she gave Hope a side hug.

Lizzie was in the middle of her confusion as she stared between Hope’s aunts, Hope and Josie. She blinked her eyes a few times, “Jo, explain.” She demanded her sister.

Josie chuckled, “Oh my god, Lizzie! I’m so sorry not to let you in on the plan first. So Aunt Freya wanted to surprise Hope and she was pranking Aunt Rebekah too so she will come here. I actually know that it was Aunt Freya entering the house when you both thought it was an intruder.”

Lizzie rolled her eyes and she joined laughing, “Well remind me to not come again if Mikaelson’s inviting me to anything.”

“Hey! I didn’t know about this!” Hope protested.

By then they were all laughing, “Oh Auntie Bex, I forget to introduce you formally to Josie.” Hope led Josie to Aunt Rebekah, “Jo, this is my one and only Auntie Bex.” Hope nodded her head toward Aunt Rebekah, “And Auntie Bex, this is Josie, my girlfriend.” Hope proudly smiled.

“Hello, Ms. Mikaelson. Nice to meet you. I’m sorry for the prank by the way.” Josie held out her hand to Rebekah and smiled sheepishly.

“Hello, Josie. Likewise. Please, just call me Auntie Bex.” Rebekah shake Josie’s hand, “Well.. well..well… girlfriend? Why is nobody telling me about this?” she glared at Hope and Freya playfully.

Freya only shrugged her shoulder nonchalantly and stuck out her tongue and Hope answered, “Well, I was going to tell you but you decided to show up in person here.” Hope laughed.

“Oh, and this is Lizzie, Josie’s twin.” Hope motioned Lizzie to come closer.

“Hello there, Ms. Mikaelson.” Lizzie shake Rebekah’s hand.

“Hello, Lizzie. Nice meeting a person who’s another victim of my sister’s nefarious prank.” Rebekah gave Lizzie a smile. They both chuckled and started talking to each other.

Josie walked over to the kitchen to tell Freya that the food will be arriving soon then she helped Freya in preparing the cutleries for dinner. Hope looked around and she was truly happy that her aunts were here because she’s missed them. And then knowing that Josie was setting this up for her also made her heart warm, Hope didn’t know how could she get this lucky.

“At last, huh?” Aunt Freya was suddenly standing beside Hope and she nodded toward Josie.

Hope smiled happily, “Yeah. It took us some time, but we found each other.”

“I’m so happy for you, littlest wolf. I know that she’s good for you. And if your parents are here I think they will adore her. I’m really glad that at last you both realize your feelings for each other. It’s kinda exhausting watching you both pine against each other you know?”

“What?! Was it that obvious Aunt Freya?” Hope scrunched her eyebrows, Lizzie said the same thing to her also about how they long for each other.

Freya ruffled Hope’s hair, “I think anybody with a pair of working eyes will notice your longing looks for Josie.”

“Ugh, stop teasing me!” Hope bumped her shoulder softly with her aunt’s.

Suddenly the doorbell rang, “Oh that must be the food, I’ll get it!” Hope headed toward the door.

Hope was beyond surprised when she saw who was behind the door.

“Hey, Hope.” Landon threw a sleazy smile at her. Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with his brain?

Hope swiftly shoved him out the door so he won’t come in and slammed the door behind her. “What are you doing here?!”

“I just want to return this to you, you left it in my car.” Landon took out a bracelet from his pocket.

Hope snatched it and didn’t even change her expression, “Thanks.” She turned around and Landon stopped her.

“Wait… don’t you have anything to say to me?” Landon asked smugly.

Ugh Hope really wanted to punch his face again right now but she remembered that Josie’s inside. “Just go, Landon. Don’t push it.”

“Oh, so you’re playing hard to get now? I can roll with it.” Landon smirked at Hope and she cringed in disgust.

“Alright, I’m just going to say this to you one last time. Stay away from me and Josie.” Hope hissed as she’s fuming with anger inside.

“I really don’t understand what you’re talking about…” Landon pretended to be clueless.

“Cut it out, Landon! I know that you approached her again, even when I already told you to back off.” Hope pushed the guy because he was being so fucking insufferable.

“Hope, why does it take you so long to—oh.” Josie stopped midsentence when she saw the person who was in front of Hope.

Landon glared at Josie and scoffed, “How pathetic. You’re still trying so hard to get her attention.”

Hope then stepped between Landon and Josie, “Don’t you fucking dare speak to her, or even look at her.” She raised her voice as she gritted her teeth; both of her fists are clenched tight to stop herself from making this idiot a punching bag.

“Really, Hope? Are you just fooling yourself right now?” Landon chuckled as if Josie is a joke.

“You’re the one who’s fooling yourself asshole!” Hope raised her fist but Josie held her back.

“Babe, come on. He’s not worth it.” Josie whispered to Hope loud enough for Landon to hear and Josie glared at Landon with so much hate in her eyes.

Hope stood still and Josie tangled her fingers with Hope’s and gave her hand a light squeeze, “Come on. Let’s get in.” Hope seemed to relax and she unclenched her fist.

“What?! Am I hearing it wrong? What did you just call Hope?” Landon questioned Josie.

“I call her ‘babe’ because she’s my girlfriend.” Josie emphasized on the word _girlfriend_ and she smiled triumphantly as Landon’s expression turned sour.

“I can’t believe this. Surely, Hope’s only dating you out of pity.” Landon gave her a side-eye and Hope was super ready to pounce that jerk but Josie was fast and she held Hope back. “Babe, I got this.”

Josie then stepped forward and faced Landon, her expression hard, her eyes was full of anger but she spoke calmly, “I’ll only tell you this one time and I’m going to speak slowly and clearly so you will understand. I love Hope and she loves me. Nothing you can say could break us up. You’re just an insecure, foolish and pathetic boy. You’re not worth our time. So, go. Don’t ever talk to Hope or me again.” Her voice was low and full of threat.

Landon was at a loss for words and he just stammered incoherently, Josie smirked at his reaction and she turned back to Hope and kissed her passionately, Hope was startled at Josie’s kiss but she instantly enjoyed the kiss as soon Josie’s lips touch hers. When they broke up for air Josie turned around, “That is for you to think about if you’re still imagining that she will come back to you.” Josie said sharply to Landon. Hope was confused at what Josie meant and she turned at Landon. “Seriously, go away.”

“B-but, I—“ Landon was opening his mouth and closing it again.

“Is everything alright girls?” Auntie Bex stepped out of the door followed by Aunt Freya and Lizzie.

“What the hell is that fucker doing here?!” Lizzie furiously walked toward Josie as she made sure her sister was okay.

“Bekah, that’s the delirious bird boy I told you about!” Freya told her sister as they walked closer toward Landon.

“Hmm…” Rebekah nodded slightly and walked up to Landon and observed him from head to toe. Josie was actually enjoying it because Landon seem really scared right now and he was ready to bolt out of the place if it wasn’t for Rebekah standing so close to him.

Lizzie also folded her arms and smirked at Landon’s scared expression, “I told you to stay away or else I’ll call Sheriff Donovan, right? Or do you need me to remind you with a punch to your face?”

Landon only nodded his head weakly, he looked really terrified at Aunt Bex’s observation at him. “Let’s not involve Matthew just yet. May I ask what you are doing here?” she questioned him calmly.

“Uh, I’m just r-returning Hope her b-bracelet..” Landon stuttered in answering Rebekah’s question.

“Hmm alright… you know I was in the mood to go to our cabin in the woods, it was so quiet there and it’s impossible for people to hear any screams if we’re there.” she suddenly turned around and smiled mischievously. “Maybe, you would like to accompany me?” she suddenly faced Landon again and he was mortified upon hearing what Rebekah said. He gulped and he was too panicked to answer.

“Um…s-sorry b-but I- I sh-should go…” Landon was trembling and Hope, Josie and Lizzie were smiling at his reaction.

Freya then stopped him, “Tell me, bird boy, do I need to convince these two girls to file a restraining order against you?” as she pointed her finger toward Hope and Josie.

“No! Please, don’t.” Landon's eyes widened with fear as he was startled at the threat then he slowly backed away step by step from the doorstep of the Mikaelsons. Rebekah took a step forward him and he was scrambling away to his car.

“Yeah, fuck off delirious Hobbit!” Lizzie yelled at Landon as got inside the car and drove away. Lizzie then covered her mouth in surprise, “Oops. Sorry for my language, Aunties.” she apologized to Aunt Freya and Aunt Rebekah.

Rebekah chuckled lightly at Lizzie’s outburst, “Well, it’s a special case. We understand.” Freya laughed and just high-fived Lizzie, “Nice insult you got there!” she praised Lizzie.

“I think you traumatized him quite enough, little sister.” Freya smirked at Rebekah and Rebekah smiled sweetly, “What? I’m just telling him about our cabin.” She said innocently.

Hope and Josie looked at the three of them as they chuckled and shake their head. They are even more worked up about Landon rather than both Hope and Josie. Hope smiled at her aunts, “I think you both traumatized him.” Josie nodded along as they went inside the house.

“Oh come on, he deserved that, that was even nothing and he was already running away like the coward he is.” Rebekah stated while Lizzie and Freya agreed on her statement

They got into the dining room and Freya opened a bottle of wine, she handed the glasses to the rest of them. “Please don’t tell your parents about this, Josie and Lizzie?”

“Of course we won’t snitch! You’re the coolest, Aunt Freya!” Lizzie raised a glass to Freya as she took a sip. Josie chuckled and nodded.

The bell rang again and it was actually the food now, they quickly set up the table and started eating. As they eat, Hope looked around her and she couldn’t be more grateful of what she has, especially the girl beside her whom she’s so in love with.

Josie then cleared her throat, “Uhm, if I may, can I say something?” she gathered everyone’s attention. The five of them stopped eating and Josie smiled warmly at them, “I just want to say, thank you so much for what you guys did back then with Landon. Thank you for being so protective of us. Now, I don’t think he will be bothering me and Hope again, thanks to you guys. So yeah, thank you.” Josie said as she raised her glass and they all raised their glass too.

“Of course, darling. I’m glad that you both found each other and I’ll be destroying anyone who dares to come between you.” she said that so innocently and Josie now was a bit intimidated by Auntie Bex, but in a good way.

“Hear, hear.” Freya raised her glass, “I’m just grateful that you realized your feelings for each other. Keelin also send her regards, she’s ecstatic to hear about you guys.” she smiled warmly at Hope and Josie.

“Oh, that’s thanks to me, Aunt Freya.” Lizzie smirked, “They both would still be oblivious gays if I didn’t give them a little nudge.”

Hope groaned at Lizzie because she remembered how Lizzie came to her to tell her about Josie’s feelings. Josie smiled embarrassedly at her sister’s antic but it seems Rebekah and Freya are amused of her twin sister.

“Ah, it all makes sense now!” Freya gasped in pretend. “Well, here’s to Lizzie!”

They all laughed and raised their glass and toasted together, “Here’s to Lizzie!”

They went back to finish the dinner and chatted with each other nonstop. Josie looked at all the people around the table and lastly she stared at her beautiful girlfriend that she's been crushing on from the first time she saw her and Josie couldn’t be more in love with her. At last, even though it took them some time and a little nudge from Lizzie, they succeeded in realizing their respective feelings for each other, and it couldn’t get better than this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so..... did i make a good ending worthy enough for all my Hosie shippers? :D please tell me whatever you want to in the comments below! I'm so glad that I could find new friends through these fics and being with you all in this journey has been such a blast. And now I'm gonna mention some of my faithful fellow readers who always gave their support through their comments in every update: taengoo1, Uncle Asad, imtired2, kaarol, MurphytheCat, Imappy13, TheGoatWithAPen.  
> This chapter is dedicated to you guys! i love you guys! your comments in every update encouraged me to write more, so thank you for your support! grateful to meet you all in our Hosie community.  
> It's crazy but this is the longest fic I've ever made in my history of writing fanfic and that's the power of Hosie!!  
> once again, I'm sorry for any typos or weird plotlines, I've been in a writing hiatus for more than a year and I'm actually excited writing fics again because of Hosie. I just hope I can be a better writer in the next fics I made. and please feel free to say hi to me on my tumblr @hackingxbiochemist if you want to talk more about Hosie or anything.  
> so once again, THANK YOU guys for joining me in this crazy ride. thank you for all your support! hope to see you on my upcoming fics. xoxo <33333

**Author's Note:**

> so, what do you think? kudos and comments are really appreciated :)


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